ANN ARBOR – The following list includes some featured venture capital deals that occurred in the Midwest Region from August 29th through January 29th, as compiled by the Growth Capital Journal.

Minneapolis Region:

CHF Solutions, a Cardiac medical device maker from Brooklyn Park, closed $22.9M in Series E funding. The investment syndication included Investor Growth Capital, Kaiser Permanente, Mason Wells, Brightstone Capital, MPM Capital, and SV Life Sciences.

Cymbet Corp., a thin-film battery developer from Elk River, received $16.5M in series B funding. Investors included Intel Capital and Reico Ventures.

Definity Health Group, a Minneapolis benefits provider was bought out by the nation?s largest insurer UnitedHealth Group, for $300M in cash. Definity Health estimated $100M in 2005 revenues and had VantagePoint Venture Partners, Psilos Group Ventures, Merrill Lynch Venture Capital, Toronto Dominion, Brightstone Capital, and Pilgrim Baxter & Assoc. contributing in the most recent round of investing on 5/7/04.

EnteroMedics Inc., an obesity and gastrointestinal medical device developer from St. Paul, closed $16.9M in series B funding. Investors included MPM, Bay City Capital, Charter Life Sciences, and Aberdare Ventures.

CoAxia, a catheter-based stroke treatment developer from Maple Grove, received $17.6M in series B funding. Contributing investors on the deal included Canaan Partners, Prism Venture Partners, Baird Venture Partners, Johnson & Johnson Development Corp., and Affinity Ventures.

Velocimed, a cardiology and neurology disease device developer from Minneapolis, acquired $16.5M in series D financing. The financing syndication included Vertical Group, Warburg Pincus, RiverVest Venture Partners, and undisclosed investors.

MinuteClinic Inc., a nurse practitioner clinic operator from Minneapolis, closed on a $15M series C round. Investors included Bain Capital and TGap Ventures.

Chicago Region:

OptionsXpress Holdings, a Chicago online retail brokerage platform, started its first day of trading on January 27th after pricing its $198M IPO at $16.50 on the upper end of the estimated $14.50 and $16.50 range. First day trading on the NASDAQ (under the symbol OXPS) shot up to $20.30 and as of 2/2 hovers around the $20 mark. Private equity backer Summit Partners sold 4,500 shares in the IPO, but retained another 13,829 shares (22.5% ownership). Goldman Sachs, Sandler O?Neill Partners, William Blair & Co., and Raymond James & Assoc. were the book and co-managers on the deal.

DBS Communications, a prepaid wireless services provider from Schaumburg, completed a $10M+ series 2nd round of funding with Sierra Ventures.

Arryx Inc., a Chicago based laser system developer, closed a $10M series D round. Draper Fisher Jurvetson was joined by multiple undisclosed convertible investors. Arryx was a presenting company at the 2003 Michigan Growth Capital Symposium.

Chromatin Inc., a plant cell chromosome developer from Chicago, received $7.3M in series B funding. The investor syndication included Burrill & Co., Foragen Technologies, Venture Investors, Unilever Technology Ventures, and undisclosed investors.

Info.com, a Chicago based meta search technology company, launched with $8M series of A funding.

Parlano, an enterprise instant-messaging technology company out of Chicago, raised $4.5M in series B financing. Investors included Longworth Venture Partners, Oak Investment Partners, and Golden Gate Capital.

BridgePort Networks, a deployer of wireless networks from Chicago, closed on a $25M series B round. Involved in the finance syndication included TD Capital Ventures, General Catalyst Partners, BCE Capital, and Polaris Venture Partners.

Detroit Region:

QuatRx Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical therapy development company from Ann Arbor, raised $31M for its third round of funding. The investors included Frazier Co., InterWest Partners, MPM Capital, TL Ventures, and Thomas Weisel Venture Partners.

Interlink Networks, a network security and access control software provider from Ann Arbor, received its first tranche of series C financing. The round included Arbor Venture Partners, Duchossois Technology Partners, and an undisclosed investor as the financiers of the deal.

Altair Engineering, a software and grid computing technology company from Troy, raised $30M in its first round of financing. Altair has been around for almost 20 years and is now accelerating its expansion. General Atlantic Partners was the sole investor.

HandyLab Inc., a clinical diagnostic developer from Ann Arbor, closed on a $5M series C round. HandyLab was a presenting company at the 2003 Michigan Growth Capital Symposium. The investment syndication included Arboretum Ventures, Ardesta, EDF Ventures, SBV Venture Partners, the University Of Michigan Ross School Of Business?s Wolverine Venture Fund, and Dupont Pharmaceuticals.

Milwaukee Region:

NimbleGen Systems Inc., a custom high-density microarray product and service provider from Madison, closed on its $12.75M series F round. The investment syndication included Baird Venture Partners, Venture Investors, Tactics II Investments, Skyline Ventures, Cargill Ventures, the State of Wisconsin Investment Board, and undisclosed investors.

Zystor Therapeutics, a lysosomal storage disease developer, received its first round of funding for $8.5M. Investors included Mason Wells, Venture Investors, Prolog Ventures, Hexagon Investments, Stonehenge Capital, and undisclosed investors.

OpGen, a genetic optical mapping services company from Madison, closed on its $5M series B round. Investors included Mason Wells, Stonehenge Capital, The State of Wisconsin Investment Board, and the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF).

Elsewhere around the Region:

Endforce, an endpoint security software firm from Dublin, Oh., received $7.5M in financing. Investors included Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Invesco Private Capital Inc. The funding will accelerate product development and marketing and sales programs.

Tsunami Research, a software developer from St. Louis, Mo., completed its $5.5M series A round.

NetLogic, a communications service provider from St. Louis, Mo., closed on its series A round of $1.14M. The round was financed alone by Gateway Associates.

Firefly Energy, a lead acid battery technology developer out of Peoria, Il., raised $4M in its series A financing. Investors included KB Partners and an undisclosed investor.