Versartis, an emerging biotechnology company has completed a $25 million Series C financing lead by new investor Aisling Capital. Also participating in the round were existing investors Index Ventures, New Leaf Venture Partners and Advent Venture Partners‘ Advent Life Sciences fund.

Phizer is snapping up NextWave Pharmaceuticals—a company backed by a laundry list of investors including Panorama Capital, Bay City Capital, Kearny Venture Partners, Aisling Capital, Fidelity Biosciences, Sofinnova Ventures and Vivo Ventures. Under the terms of the deal, Pfizer will pay $255 million to NextWave’s shareholders at closing. NextWave’s shareholders are eligible to receive up to $425 million in additional money, based on sales milestones. NextWave closed a $45 million round last January.

AxioMed Spine Corporation, a spinal orthopedics company has closed its Series D financing, raising $5 million in two tranches from current and new investors. This funding boosts the previously announced $15 million Series D financing. Investors in the business include Siemens Venture Capital, Aisling Capital, Fidelity Biosciences, Kearny Venture Partners and OrbiMed Advisors. PRESS RELEASE [...]

Seven of the LP’s latest 10 venture funds saw portfolio values increase from March to June 2011. Two experienced declines and one held steady, according to a peHUB analysis of recent portfolio reports.

Pennsylvania’s Public School Employees’ Retirement System has been a cautious investor in venture capital. But it hasn’t been afraid to put capital to work. The dollar value of the bets PSERS has placed in the first decade of the new millennium is up considerably over the 1990s, even though it hasn’t purchased a share in [...]

TransEnterix Inc. has closed a $15 million in venture capital financing. TransEnterix currently markets throughout Europe and the US a platform called the SPIDER® Surgical System. The funding is the second tranche of the company’s Series B financing secured in 2009. Aisling Capital, Quaker BioVentures, Intersouth Partners, Synergy Life Science Partners and SV Life Sciences [...]

Lexington, Mass.-based T2 Biosystems has closed a $23 million Series D financing round led by new investor Aisling Capital. Return backers Flagship Ventures, Polaris Venture Partners, Flybridge Capital Partners, Physic Ventures, Partners Healthcare, Arcus Ventures, RA Capital, Camros Capital and WS Investments also contributed. The money will help with ongoing development and clinical trials of the company’s diagnostic technology.

CalPERS ratcheted up its venture capital commitments as better economic conditions returned in the middle of the last decade. This culminated in the banner year of 2008, when the California Public Employees’ Retirement System put about $1.27 billion into 23 funds, according to peHUB’s evaluation of the investment data updated through Dec. 31. The decision [...]

CalPERS, like many LPs, turned hesitant toward venture during the recent global recession. But the pension fund followed more free spending ways just prior to the slowdown, with commitments in 2006, 2007 and 2008 doubling or more. These mid-decade vintage years saw the California Public Employees’ Retirement System — the nation’s largest public pension fund [...]

(Reuters) – Zeltiq Aesthetics Inc., a venture-backed company that uses a patented cooling technology to eliminate fat bulges, has filed with U.S. regulators to raise up to $115 million in an initial public offering. The company has raised $104.3 million in venture capital since 2005 from Advanced Technology Ventures (ATV), Aisling Capital, Frazier Healthcare and [...]