VC Roundup: FM Publishing, New Leaf & Nixon Peabody

Updated Some scattered VC notes as we head into the weekend:

* FM Publishing, the online ad network run by John Battelle, has raised $4.5 million in Series B funding, according to a regulatory filing. Return backers include New Enterprise Associates JPMorgan Partners and Omidyar Network. [Note: This mistake was based on sloppiness, as I was simultaneously researching a different deal led by NEA. Apologies] It’s a bit unclear how much the company had raised previously (it won’t say), but our database indicates a $750,000 seed round in mid 2005 and at least $2 million in Series A funding last year. FM declined to comment. See filing here: FMpub.pdf.

* New Leaf Venture Partners is raising its second fund with a $400 million target, although it could conceivably close as high as $500 million. The bi-coastal firm was founded in 2004 by the life sciences team of Sprout Group – the longstanding affiliate of DLJ (and later Credit Suisse). It closed its inaugural fund in August 2005 with $310 million, and late last year had a big hit with the $480 million sale of Cerexa to Forest Labs.  That deal could grow even larger, with $100 million in possible milestone payments.

* Finally, it’s been an interesting week over at VC/PE law firm Nixon Peabody. The firm commissioned a ridiculous song about itself, which sounds like something that would run over the credits of a bad 1980s comedy. It got posted on YouTube, which caused Nixon Peabody to get so pissy as to demand it be pulled for “copyright” violations. Insert absolutely any lawyer joke here.

Thank goodness for Above the Law, which still has the audio file. Listen at your own risk.