Subject: Venture News, Thursday, November 16, 2000
From: [email-masked]
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Date: Thu, 16 Nov 2000 03:36:00 -0800 (PST)

o ICG Commerce to Merge with Andersen Consulting Venture

PHILADELPHIA -- ICG Commerce, an Internet procurement
service provider, said it agreed to merge with ePValue,
the Internet procurement service subsidiary of Andersen
Consulting. Both AC Ventures, Andersen Consulting's
venture unit, and Sun Microsystems, which has an
equity stake in ePValue, will take equity in ICG
Commerce. ICG Commerce will continue to be led by
president and CEO Rick Berry. ICG Commmerce will
be Andersen Consulting's preferred Internet procurement
service and will eventually manage the firm's global
indirect spending. Sun Microsystems will serve as
the merged company's preferred hardware platform.
ICG Commerce, which raises a $117 million second
round this summer, is backed by Entertech Capital,
Graham Partners, Internet  Capital Group, Invest,
Keppel, Koch Ventures, SMM Five, Staples, and Unisys.
http://www.icgcommerce.com/
http://www.epvalue.com/
_____________________________________________

RedMeteor.com takes exchange to former Soviet Union

HOUSTON, Nov. 15 (LocalBusiness.com) -- RedMeteor.com, an Internet-based 
commodities exchange, today announced it was selected to provide a modified 
energy exchange platform to Energy Trade System, a venture uniting a group of 
key energy players in the former Soviet Union. 

The platform will allow Energy Trade to launch trading platforms for refined 
products exported through the Baltic Sea ports. 

Energy Trade System's founding partners are Sibneft, the Russian Ministry of 
Railways, pipeline operator Transneft, product pipeline operator 
Transnefteproduct and fiber optic cable operator TransTeleCom Company. 

This agreement promotes the Houston-based RedMeteor's trading platform and 
extends its technical capacity in enabling energy and non-energy commodity 
trading platforms globally. 

"We are very pleased to provide platform licensing and hosting services to 
ETS," Vincent DiCosimo said in a news release. "RedMeteor's platform 
configuration is designed to be highly scalable and capable of adapting to 
any commodity type quickly. This transaction confirms our expectations in 
that regard." 

Sibneft President Eugene Shvidler said the "agreement with RedMeteor will 
help ETS meet its goal of providing round-the-clock reliability, ease of use, 
superior response time and the best transaction security available." 

"Through the creation of new Internet-based platforms, ETS aims to 
revolutionize the way that energy is bought and sold, both in FSU export 
markets and on the Russian domestic market," Shvidler said in a news release. 

Sibneft is a Russian oil company with operations spanning exploration, 
production, refining and marketing of petroleum products. Sibneft produces 
some 330,000 barrels per day from fields in Western Siberia. The company also 
is affiliated with the 385,000 barrel per day Omsk refinery. 

RedMeteor.com is a global, Internet-based, exchange marketplace for crude 
oil, natural gas, natural gas liquids, refined products and electricity. 
 
___________________________________________________

Itochu,APX To Start Online Pwr Bourse In Japan Spring '01
11/16/2000 

SEOUL -(Dow Jones)- Itochu Corp. (J.CIT) of Japan and Automated Power 
Exchange (X.AUP) of the U.S. will jointly launch their Web-based exchange for 
retail electricity trade in Japan in the spring of next year, Shinichi 
Aburaya, project manager for Itochu's power projects group told Dow Jones 
Newswires Thursday. 

The online exchange was originally scheduled to start in November this year.

Frank Lim, director of marketing in Asia for APX, said the delay wasn't due 
to technical problems. 

"We are clearing commercial and technical regulatory milestones one by one," 
Aburaya said, on the sidelines of the Energy North Asia 2000 conference in 
Seoul. 

Aburaya said the Web-based exchange is expected to start limited services in 
the first quarter of 2001. It will offer the full range of planned services 
later next year, he added. 

Using a patent-pending online trading system, the exchange will match sellers 
holding excess electricity with potential buyers. A seller will input 
information required for the sale - the electricity volume, an offer price, 
and the timing of the delivery of the power supply. 

Buyers can seek desirable terms and conditions on the Web site. 

Itochu and APX aim to lure market participants ranging from power and gas 
utilities to trading houses, department stores and banks. 

The move to create an online power exchange is part of the two companies' 
efforts to take advantage of the new freedom in Japan's electricity industry, 
after deregulation last spring ended a 50-year monopoly for regional power 
utilities. 

Under reforms implemented March 21, newcomers are allowed to sell retail 
electricity directly to high-volume, large-lot industrial and commercial 
users, which together account for roughly 28% of Japan's total power demand. 

During his address at the Energy North Asia 2000 conference, Aburaya said 
Itochu and APX plan to provide the following services on their online 
electricity exchange: industry and deregulation news; consulting services on 
effective use of surplus power capacity, procurement guidance, and grid 
connection assistance. 

He said the online exchange will eventually evolve to offer shorter-term 
contracts. 

"Over time, we hope to meet market needs in the gradual progress of 
deregulation..." Aburaya said. "Now, only yearlong contracts are practical, 
but we plan to offer quarterly, monthly, weekly, day-ahead and one-hour 
blocks." 

Itochu and APX also plan to offer services to deal with credit management, 
payment, and billing issues, he said. 

"These planned services will come a little bit later," Aburaya said. 

Itochu and APX are inviting utility companies and others to invest in their 
venture, tentatively called JPX. Itochu plans to hold a 20% to 25% stake in 
JPX. 

Aburaya said his company continues seeking investors in the project. 

___________________________________________________

ChemRound kicks off chemicals e-Commerce
11/15/2000 

The South Korean companies SK, LG and Hyundai, have set up ChemRound, a joint 
e-commerce website.
It represents Asia's first online chemical market run by chemical companies.
The Asian chemical market represents 20-30% of the total global market and is 
worth as much as $500 bn.
ChemRound is based in Singapore and has capitalisation of $10 M.
It plans to raise this to $25 M by end 2000 and ultimately to $50 bn.
ChemRound aims to gain a 15% share of the Asian chemical market.
______________________________________________

Mexican B2B alliance

11/15/2000 
 
Mexican Internet exchange latinB2B.com and five Mexican chemical producers 
and service providers have created Mexico's first e-commerce chemical 
consortium.

The companies are Reichhold de Mexico, Grupo Mexichem, Quimica Delta, Grupo 
Transportes InterMex, and InterBentley.

_____________________________________________
 
o Online Payments Firm Xign Closes $14.3 Million Series A

PLEASANTON, Calif. -- Xign, which develops Internet-based
payment technologies, said it closed its Series
A round of funding for a total of $14.3 million
from new investors Charles River Ventures and Matrix
Partners, which led the round. Charles R. Schwab
also invested in the round. The company will use
the funding to launch its first products and services
and for sales and marketing. Xign is also backed
by RDM, a subsidiary of CVF Technologies. Xign's
technologies, which it demonstrated in securing
its new funding, enable users to send and receive
payments over the Internet.
http://www.xign.com/
_____________________________________________

o Enterprise Tech Firm Performant Gets $2.5 Million Series A

BELLEVUE, Wash. -- Performant, a developer of performance
optimization technology for back-end enterprise
systems, said it has secured $2.5 million in its
Series A round of funding led by Madrona Venture
Group. Cronus Ventures, Pinpoint Venture Group,
and WRF Capital also participated in the round.
Madrona's venture partner, Matt McIlwain, and Vijay
Vashee of Cronus will take a seat on Performant's
board of directors.
http://www.performant.com/
_____________________________________________

o Publishing ASP Docnet.com Secures First Round Funding

EXTON, Pa. -- Docnet.com, an ASP focused on the
publishing and content industry, said it has completed
its first round of funding provided by Rockham Capital
Ventures and Epoch Partners. Docnet.com did not
disclose the amount it raised, but said it will
use the funds to launch its services. John Silverman
of Epoch will take a seat company's board of directors.
http://www.docnet.com/
_____________________________________________

o Online Security Firm SecureWorks Lands $20 Million Round Two

ATLANTA -- SecureWorks, a provider of Internet security
services to businesses, said it closed its second
round of funding with $20 million led by Mellon
Ventures. GE Equity and SBK Capital also participated
with previous investors Alliance Technology Ventures,
ITC Holdings, and Noro-Moseley Partners. The company
said it will use the funds to expand operations
and marketing.
http://www.secureworks.net/
_____________________________________________

o Wireless Tech Firm MeshNetworks Has $26 Million Second Round

ORLANDO, Fla. -- MeshNetworks, a developer of broadband
wireless Internet technology, said it raised $26
million in its second round of funding, led by Redwood
Ventures. Additional investors included ITT Industries,
BancBoston Ventures, Partricof & Co. Ventures, 3Com
Ventures, and individual investors. The company
said it will use the funds to expand its operations
and toward product development.
http://www.meshnetworks.com/
_____________________________________________

o Contract Worker Firm b2people Raises $8 Million Round Two

NAPERVILLE, Ill. -- b2people, an Internet procurement
software firm for the contract worker market, said
it has raised $8 million in its second of round
of financing led by Blue Stream Ventures. Dain Rauscher
Wessels and previous investor Prism Opportunity
Fund also participated. Board changes have not been
announced yet. The company said it will use the
funds for corporate operations, sales, marketing,
and product development.
http://www.b2people.com/
_____________________________________________

o Identification Firm KeyNetica Raises $1 Million Seed Round

LAS VEGAS -- KeyNetica, an identification software
and applications firm, said it raised $1 million
in a seed round from M-Systems Flash Disk Pioneers,
a public company that focuses on secure data storage
for the Internet appliance and infrastructure industry.
KeyNetica said it will use the funds for marketing
and sales and to develop secure Internet access
products.
http://www.keynetica.com/