So where do the three top VCs David McClure, Rob Theis and Josh Stein see room to run? The answer is educational products, post-PC software and the convergence of mobile and cloud.

The bill has President Obama’s support and is likely to pass the Senate. But a The New York Times editorial took aim at it, a critical statement from Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro argues it will chip away at objective investment analysis and former SEC chair Arthur Levitt described it as “investor unfriendly.”

The most active VCs in the space include New Enterprise Associates, Scale Venture Partners, Trinity Venture Partners, Benchmark Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners and Google Ventures, says a new report.

Sens. Charles Schumer (D, N.Y.) and Pat Toomey (R., Pa.) last week introduced a bill seeking to make it easier for small companies to go public. The proposed legislation grew out of recommendations from a task force of venture capitalists, public market investors, entrepreneurs, academics, investment bankers and attorneys. One member of the task force [...]

Software testing company uTest has closed a $17 million Series D round led by QuestMark Partners, with participation from previous Scale Venture Partners, Longworth Venture Partners, Egan-Managed Capital and Mesco Ltd., the company announced Monday. uTest, based in Boston, has raised a total of $37 million since it was formed in 2007.

Brightroll, the provider of digital video advertising services, closed a $30 million investment from Trident Capital, which led the round, and True Ventures, Scale Venture Partners and Adams Street Partners. Existing investor Comerica Bank also contributed to the round. GCA Savvian served as exclusive financial advisor to BrightRoll in this transaction.

As it moves away from healthcare investments, Scale Venture Partners has promoted Stacey Curry Bishop to managing director, the firm announced Tuesday. Scale Venture said that it will make no new healthcare investments in ScaleVP Fund III, and will put its full focus toward technology deals. Managing Directors Lou Bock and Mark Brooks, who have led the firm’s healthcare investing since 2000, will remain with ScaleVP to support their portfolio companies. Bishop joined ScaleVP in 1999 and focuses on SaaS and Internet investments.

The IPO Task Force is calling upon regulators and lawmakers to clear roadblocks for smaller companies to go public, after more than a decade in which the volume of emerging stage IPOs has been stagnant compared to prior years. “It’s unrelated to economic cycles,” said Kate Mitchell, who serves as chairwoman of the organization and [...]

California-based Axcient, a data backup, business continuity, and disaster recovery service to the Small and Mid-Sized Business (SMB) market, has raised US$15.5 million in new funding. The Series C round was led by Scale Venture Partners with previous investors Allegis Capital, Peninsula Ventures, and Thomvest Ventures participating, bringing the company’s total funding to date to US$33.5 million. Rory O’Driscoll, managing director, Scale Venture Partners, joins the board with this investment.

RingCentral, a maker of a cloud business phone systems platform and related services, has added $10 million in Series D financing, bringing it’s total raised to more than $55 million. Scale Venture Partners led the latest infusion, and was joined by Sequoia Capital, Khosla Ventures, Cisco, DAG Ventures, and Silicon Valley Bank. The money will be used for expansion efforts.