Get set for the new wave

Emerging internet themes will be explored and dissected at a major industry event later this month. Essential Web 2007 will showcase the knowledge of experienced investors alongside the raw talent of some of the best entrepreneurs in the business. Verbal jousting will centre on the explosion of social networks, micro-blogging and monetising the web, to name just a few subjects.

The line-up of high-profile speakers includes Saul Klein, formerly head of marketing at Skype and founder of Video Island, an Index-funded DVD rental company that recently merged with LoveFilm. Last year, he was named winner of the marketing and communications category at World Technology Awards in San Francisco. He is now at Index Ventures. Mr Klein is one of several professional investors who have worked on the other side of the divide.

Others include Judy Gibbons, of Accel Ventures, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm. She joined Microsoft in 1994 to launch MSN in the UK, and went on to manage MSN Europe. Ms Gibbons was ranked in the top 20 most influential European business women by the Wall Street Journal Europe for two successive years, and as one of Time magazine’s five “People to Watch in International Business”. She is very bullish on opportunities in the UK, telling the FT this month: “What is special about London is that all the disciplines needed, such as technology, media and finance, are strongly represented here.”

Nic Brisbourne, of Esprit Capital Partners, is perhaps better known as the inspiration behind The Equity Kicker, Esprit’s blog. He is likely to provide interesting and controversial opinions. He is a particular supporter of Wikinomics. In his blog he says: “Being open, sharing and thinking globally are themes I have returned to multiple times. My enthusiasm for enterprise 2.0 stems from these ideas.”

David Soskin, chief executive of Cheapflights and founder of Howzat Media, is also likely to be entertaining. Mr Soskin joined Cheapflights - a pioneer of internet travel price comparison - in March 2000 from ABN Amro Corporate Finance, where he was head of global media. He had previously founded Asquith Court Schools which was sold in 2001 for $100m to West Private Equity. Interestingly, he has grown Cheapflights organically without using external funding. It has increased its traffic from 300,000 in 2000 to 6m global unique users a month, driving an estimated $1.8bn worth of travel business to its advertisers last year.

Other speakers and panellists include:

Jonathan Wolf, director of corporate development at Yahoo, responsible for M&A, joint ventures, major partnerships and strategic investments in Europe;
Paul Walsh, chief executive of Segala and member of the BIMA Executive;
Daniel Applequist, Senior Technology Strategist at Vodafone and founder of Mobile Monday in London;
Adrian Critchlow, founder of Active Hotels;
Ashish Patel, managing director of Intel Capital

Next week’s newsletter will look at some of the dynamic new web-focused companies hoping to win funding at the event.

Essential Web 2007 will be held on June 27, at the IMAX Theatre, Waterloo from 8am to 8pm. For full information, go to www.libraryhouse.net/web07

The Week's Deals

Thirty companies gained venture funding this week, fourteen were of undisclosed value. The deals raised a total of €92.2m, which is €5.76m on average.

7TM Pharma, the Denmark-based drug company, has raised €16.5m in a round led by SR One, GlaxoSmithKline’s corporate healthcare venture fund. Existing investors also participated. 7TM is a drug discovery and development company focused on metabolic disorders. The funding will be used for further clinical development of the company’s two lead drug candidates, both for the treatment of obesity.

OpTier, the US and Israel-based software company, has raised $15m (€11.1m) in third round funding from new investor Gemini Israel Funds and existing investors Pitango Venture Capital, Carmel Ventures, and Lightspeed Venture Partners. OpTier, which makes software for the management of enterprise information systems, says it will use the funding to enhance its offerings, expand its industry partnerships and fuel sales and marketing.

AdaptiveMobile Security, the Ireland-based mobile security filtering company, has raised $14m (€10.4m) in series B funding from Doughty Hanson, Intel Capital and Noor Financial Company. AdaptiveMobile, which was founded in 2003, has developed software that allows the blocking of unauthorised, illegal, or inappropriate material from mobile devices. The funding will be used for further R&D and sales.

Gemidis, the Belgium-based developer of liquid-crystal-on-silicon (LCOS) micro-displays, has raised €6m from Baekeland Fonds, Fortis Private Equity, GIMV, Infineon Technologies and Quest for Growth. Gemidis’ products can be used in range of applications such as rear projection television sets, home theatre front projectors, head-up displays and high end front projectors.

Elsewhere, Seatwave, the UK-based online ticket exchange service, raised £4m ($5.9m) from Oliver Jung, Atlas Venture and Mangrove Capital Partners; Bitume, the France-based internet retailer, raised €3.14m from Galileo Partners and Societe Generale Asset Management; and Point 35 Microstructures, the UK-based supplier of high-tech wafer processing tools for the semiconductor industry, raised £2.1m (€3.1m) from Close Venture and other undisclosed investors.

See below for a complete list of deal headlines.

Did we miss anything? If you think we have missed a deal or know of a deal that is about to close then send us your deal news.

The Week's Exits

Amgen, the Nasdaq-listed therapeutics company, has agreed to acquire Alantos, the Germany-based developer of drugs for the treatment of diabetes and inflammatory diseases, for $300m (€222m) in cash. Alantos' lead drug candidate, for the treatment of type II diabetes, entered phase IIa clinical studies in May. Following completion of the transaction, Alantos will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Amgen.

Adaptif Photonics, the Germany-based developer of optical network equipment, has been acquired by US-based Agilent Technologies. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Adaptif operates in the telecommunication market with products designed to enable high-speed, high-capacity dynamic optical networks. The acquisition is intended to enhance Agilent's instrument portfolio for fiber-optic tests.

Hardi Electronics, the Sweden-based developer of off-the-shelf ASIC (application specific integrated circuit) prototyping boards, has been acquired by Synplicity, the US-based supplier of software for the design and verification of semiconductors, for $24.2m (€17.8m) in cash. Synplicity says that the acquisition makes it the leader in the ASIC prototyping market.

People Moves

Joost, the Netherlands-based internet television service, has appointed former Cisco Systems chief strategy officer, Mike Volpi, as its new chief executive. Until Mr Volpi's resignation from Cisco in February this year, he had widely been considered to be a potential successor to John Chambers as company chief executive. Mr Volpi, who was also a Skype board member, replaces current Joost chief executive Fredrik de Wahl, who will remain with the company as chief strategy officer.

Adrian Hon, technical director of UK-based Mind Candy, has left the company. Mind Candy is a developer of alternate reality games. The company's flagship product, Perplex City, is a cryptic treasure hunt played out in the real and virtual worlds. Season one of the game, and its £100k prize, was won in February this year. Mr Hon's departure coincides with the announcement that season two of Perplexity has been postponed.

Xtellus, the US and Israel-based developer of components and modules for reconfigurable optical networks, has appointed Dr Krishna Bala as president and chief executive. Dr Bala replaces outgoing chief executive, Thomas Dudley. Xtellus' technology is designed to provide telecom and cable service providers with an operationally efficient and cost effective transport layer for internet, video and telephone services.

Most Accessed Companies

Gizmoz, the Israel-based social expression and user generated media service, has attracted a lot of attention this week. Gizmoz’s free online service allows users to create animated, talking Gizmoz characters for use across their digital communications. The characters can be used to generate video clips and other forms of original content and can be posted to blogs, emailed or used on social networking profiles. The company is backed by investors including Benchmark Capital and Columbia Capital.

H2O Networks, the UK-based developer of a system to deploy optical fibre cable in wastewater networks, has also received a lot of attention recently. H20 says that digging up roads for laying pipe and cable impacts on the environment and happens more than four million times a year at a cost of about £1bn. H2O’s installation system is designed to allow cables to be laid in the sewer network, which the company says is 80 per cent faster than traditional methods, allowing networks to be operational within weeks rather than months. The company has completed a number of installations of its cable system, and is currently in talks with a number of further potential customers.

Other companies generating interest recently include I-Play, Point 35 Microstructures, and Nanoradio.