Alder BioPharmaceuticals closed a $38 million Series D round led by a new investor—Novo Ventures—and including existing Alder investors Sevin Rosen Funds, Ventures West, WRF Capital, H.I.G. Ventures, Delphi Ventures and TPG Biotech. Novo’s Peter Bisgaard will join Alder’s board as part of the deal. Alder BioPharma is based in Washington and is develops products [...]

YouSendIt, a provider of extended enterprise collaboration services, has launched a new product line called Workstream. Headquartered in Campbell, CA, YouSendIt is backed by venture capital firms Adams Street Partners, Alloy Ventures, Emergence Capital Partners, Sevin Rosen Funds and Sigma Partners. PRESS RELEASE YouSendIt, Inc., the leading provider of extended enterprise collaboration services, today announced [...]

Luxtera said Monday it has added three new executives. Joseph Balardeta was named VP of engineering, while Joseph Balardeta was made VP of marketing. And, Ron Horan joined Luxtera as VP of sales. Carlsbad, Calif.-based Luxtera is a fabless semiconductor company. Luxtera has received funding from August Capital, New Enterprise Associates, Sevin Rosen Funds and [...]

The market for venture-backed IPOs has been pretty dead so far this year. But based on new filing activity, it looks like there’s some optimism things will improve. At least six venture-backed companies have filed to go public since the start of the year, in sectors ranging from enterprise software to semiconductors to car rentals. [...]

San Francisco-based data analytics company Splunk Inc. has filed with regulators to raise up to $125 million in an initial public offering, Reuters reported Friday. The company, which has raised money from August Capital, Ignition Partners, JK&B Capital and Sevin Rosen Funds, said it will use proceeds from the IPO for acquisitions and technology investments. In a preliminary prospectus, the company said that Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, J.P. Morgan and BofA Merrill Lynch were lead underwriters to the IPO, Reuters wrote.

Metabolon Inc., a Durham, N.C.-based provider of biomarker discovery and analysis, has raised $13.1 million in Series D financing. New investor Keating Capital Inc. joins existing investors including Sevin Rosen Funds, Aurora Funds, Harris & Harris Group, Syngenta Ventures, Fletcher Spaght and Fulcrum Financial Partners.

Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Innovalight Inc., which sells silicon ink and advanced solar cell process technology, has inked $3.4 million in funding under the SunShot initiative by the U.S. Department of Energy. The money will help the company accelerate the development and production of silicon ink material and processes for high efficiency solar cells. With more than $63 million raised previously, Innovalight is also backed by EDB Investments of Singapore, Vertex Venture Holdings, Apax Partners, ARCH Venture Partners, Convexa Capital, Harris & Harris Group, Sevin Rosen Funds and Triton Ventures.

Channelinsight, a provider of channel sales management products, has closed on $10 million in Series C financing, bringing its total raised to $21 million. Rho Ventures led the round, with participation from Sevin Rosen Funds, Sequel Venture Partners and Vendanta Capital. The company will use the new money for continued product development and expansion of its sales and marketing. Channelinsight is based in Denver.

Splunk Inc.’s message is pretty clear: things are good, so the time is right to think about an IPO. The startup, which helps corporations monitor their IT infrastructures, said this week its 2010 revenue rose 96% to $66 million. As a result, a 2012 IPO is a possibility, if the markets hold up, says Nick [...]

Guilford, Conn.-based online advertising start-up uKnow has raised roughly half of a planned $1 million funding round, according to a filing with the SEC. Angel investor Geoff Judge, who is also a partner with iNovia Capital, is listed among the company’s directors. Pittsburgh-based Neograft has raised $3 million according to an SEC filing. Neograft develops [...]