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Enron Mail |
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/
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