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Deals of the day: $1.8 billion for Ashland Water

By
Dan Primack
Dan Primack
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By
Dan Primack
Dan Primack
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February 19, 2014, 3:15 PM ET

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Venture Capital Deals

Socialbakers, a Prague-based provider of social media analytics for marketers, has raised $26 million in Series C funding. Index Ventures led the round, and was joined by return backer Earlybird Venture Capital. More at Fortune.com.

ZenPayroll Inc., a San Francisco-based provider of cloud-based payroll solutions, has raised $20 million in Series A funding from General Catalyst Partners and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. The company previously raised $6.1 million in seed funding from Google Ventures, Salesforce.com and individual angels. More at Fortune.com

Postmates, a San Francisco-based on-demand delivery service, has raised $16 million in Series B funding. Spark Capital led the round, and was joined by return backers like Crosslink Capital and Matrix Partners. www.postmates.com

BeyondCore, a San Mateo, Calif.-based provider of automated data analytics, has raised $9 million in Series A funding led by Menlo Ventures. www.beyondcore.com

ViSenze, a Singapore-based provider of image recognition solutions, has raised $3.5 million in Series A funding. Rakuten Ventures led the round, and was joined by Walden International and UOB Venture Management. www.visenze.com

Transcriptic, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based scientific lab virtualization platform, has raised $2.8 million in new VC funding. IA Ventures led the round, and was joined by seed backers like Google Ventures, Data Collective, Boost.vc and AME Cloud Ventures. www.transcriptic.com

MyTomorrows, a Dutch startup focused on increasing accessibility to development-stage treatments for patients with unmet medical needs, has raised $2.2 million in new VC funding from “friends and family.” www.mytomorrows.com

Private Equity Deals

Ashland Inc. (NYSE: ASH) has agreed to sell its water chemicals group to Clayton, Dubilier & Ricefor approximately $1.8 billion. Rival bidders reportedly included Rhone Group and a joint offer from The Blackstone Group and Danaher Corp. www.ashland.com

Annapurna Capital Management has acquired Cimarron Acid Services Inc., a Fairview, Okla.-based provider of pressure pumping services to the midcontinent oil and gas industry. No financial terms were disclosed. www.annapurnafunds.com

Park Energy Services LLC, a platform that acquires and operates a fleet of Sertco compressors for the domestic oil and natural gas production industry, has raised an undisclosed amount of private equity funding from Rock Hill Capital Group. www.rockhillcap.com

IPO’s

A10 Networks Inc., a San Jose, Calif.-based provider of application networking technologies, has filed for a $100 million IPO. It plans to trade on the NYSE under ticker symbol ATEN, with Morgan Stanley, BofA Merrill Lynch and J.P. Morgan serving as lead underwriters. The company reports a $27 million net loss on nearly $142 million in revenue for 2013, compared to a $90 million net loss on $120 million in revenue for 2012. Shareholders include Summit Partners (19% pre-IPO stake) and Mitsui & Co. (12.8%).www.a10networks.com

Borderfree Inc., a New York-based provider of ecommerce solutions for retailers, has filed for an $86.25 million IPO. It plans to trade on the Nasdaq under ticker symbol BRDR, with Credit Suisse and RBS Capital Markets serving as lead underwriters. The company reports a $654,000 net loss on around $110 million of 2013 revenue, compared to $192,000 in net income on $81 million in revenue for 2012. Shareholders include Pitango Venture Capital (32.81% pre-IPO stake), Adams Street Partners (21.69%), Delta Ventures (12.38%), Venture Strategy Partners (5.85%), Canaan Partners and Viola Credit. www.borderfree.com

Pets at Home, a UK-based pet supply retailer owned by KKR, is prepping a London floatation that would raise around £275 million at an enterprise value of around £1.5 billion. www.petsathome.com

Poundland, a British single-price discount retailer backed by Warburg Pincus, said that it will list its shares in London next month. The floatation is expected to raise around £750 million.www.poundland.co.uk

Versartis Inc., a Mountain View, Calif.-based developer of therapeutics for patients with endocrine disorders, has filed for an $80 million IPO. Morgan Stanley and Citigroup are serving as lead underwriters. Shareholders in the pre-revenue company include New Leaf Venture Partners (24.4% pre-IPO stake), Index Ventures (22.4%), Advent Venture Partners (16.3%), Aisling Capital (11.9%) and Sofinnova Ventures (6.8%). www.versatis.com

OTHER M&A

ClickSoftware Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq: CKSW) has agreed to acquire Xora Inc., a Mountain View, Calif.–based provider of cloud-based mobile workforce management software. The deal is valued at approximately $14.7 million in cash. Xora shareholders include Rho Capital Partners, Dawntreader Ventures, BlueStream Ventures and Split Rock Partners. www.xora.com

Graphic Packaging (NYSE: GPK) has agreed to acquire Benson Group, a UK-based food and healthcare packaging company, from LDC for approximately $170 million. www.graphicpkg.com

Wynnchurch Capital has sold Android Industries LLC, an Auburn Hills, Mich.-based provider of outsourced modular assembly and sequencing for the automotive industry, to a consortium that includes Mitsui & Co. (USA), Dundee Corp. (TSX: DC), Rick Renaud and company management. No financial terms were disclosed. Lazard managed the process. www.Android-Ind.com

Genband, a Plano, Texas-based provider of IP infrastructure and application solutions, has agreed to acquire uReach Technologies, a Holmdel, N.J.-based provider of converged communications messaging and specialty calling solutions. No financial terms were disclosed. GenBand has raised around $40 million in VC funding from firms like Invesco Private Capital, Siemens Venture Capital, Sevin Rosen Funds, HLM Venture Partners, Trellis Partners, TI, Venrock, Star Ventures, Wheatley Partners and Oak Investment Partners. UReach backers include Argo Global Capital, Cloquet Capital Partners, JAIC America and Skyblaze Ventures. www.genband.com

MDC Partners (TSX: MDZ) has acquired a majority stake in Toronto-based proxy solicitation firmKingsdale Shareholder Services. The deal is valued at approximately $50 million. www.mdc-partners.com

Sign up for Dan Primack’s daily email newsletter on deals and deal-makers: GetTermSheet.com

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