Itron, a provider of energy and water resource management solutions is to acquire Jackson, Mississippi-based SmartSynch in a $100 million transaction. SmartSynch is a provider of point-to-point smart grid solutions that use a cellular network for communications. Backers of the company include Kinetic Ventures, JP Morgan, Endeavor Capital Management, Nth Power, GulfSouth Capital, Siemens Venture [...]

Redwood City, Calif.-based Coraid Inc. has added $50 million in a new round led by Crosslink Capital. Existing investors Menlo Ventures, Allegis Capital, Azure Capital Partners and affiliates of Silver Lake, as well as new investors Seagate Technology and Kinetic Ventures also contributed. Coraid is a developer of Ethernet SAN technology.

Wireless services provider Tower Cloud has secured $49 million in equity funding to fuel expansion and growth of its 4G wireless backhaul networks. The latest round of funding was led by two of Tower Cloud’s existing investors, The Burton Partnership and Knology, Inc. Tower Cloud’s other existing institutional investors include: Sutter Hill Ventures, El Dorado Ventures, Ballast Point Ventures, Kinetic Ventures, ITC Partners Fund and Noro-Moseley Partners. For this round, two new investors joined the strong consortium, The Florida Growth Fund and CLR Investors.

Atlanta-based Cardlytics has raised $33 million from Groupe Aeroplan and existing investors to expand its transaction-driven marketing technology and banking rewards business in the U.S. and abroad. The company has raised financing previously from investors Kinetic Ventures, ITC Holding Company, Canaan Partners, Polaris Venture Partners and Total Technology Ventures.

Cam Lanier III has joined Kinetic Ventures as a senior director. He currently is chairman of ITC Holding C0., and previously helped found Interstate Communications (sold to MCI for $1.2b in 1990).