Jonathan Marino

Lately, new investors have been popping up from coast to coast in professional sports teams deals. As entrepreneurs’ companies and PE and VC portfolios rebound, some of the boldface names in charge of them are loosening purse strings to make the mega-ego purchases of professional ballclubs. That means that, possibly, PE pros Josh Harris and Steve Pagliuca could find themselves in a dispute not over how the carry is split in a club deal, but over who carried the ball the previous night in the Celts-76ers game. Although these investors are savvy when it comes to LBOs, IPOs and dividend recaps, things haven’t always panned out the way they’ve wanted on the diamond/gridiron/hardwood/ice....

Internet companies are pushing smaller portions of their equity onto public markets at a volatile time and still seeing stock values increase almost instantaneously. For now, the practice is helping tack bigger price tags onto VCs’ assets, but if and when a major market disruption occurs, these newly-listed darlings may later see secondary offering attempts flounder. Low-float IPOs are all the rage right now....

Rally Software, the Colorado-based software technology firm, has secured a $20 million round of fundraising from Meritech Capital Partners. Prior investors and debt providers include Mohr Davidow Ventures, Boulder Ventures, Mobius Venture Capital and Vista Ventures as well as Square 1 Bank.

Huntington Capital Fund II, the San Diego-based lower middle market private equity mezzanine fund, has invested in Vertical Management Systems Inc., a California-based technology company working with financial services companies. Madison Street Capital, LLC acted as the exclusive financial advisor in arranging the financing. Specifics were not publicized.

Better Luck Next Time! Hillary reportedly now eyeing being in charge of the World Bank? PE was On to Something: Short bets against retail vanish “Get with the Program”: Incoming NYT boss Jill Abramson begins tweeting Depends on Who You Ask: Google either has bought, or wants to buy, Admeld

The Robert Allen Group, a New York-based maker of decorative fabrics, has taken an investment from Altamont Capital Partners. Specifics of the transaction were not publicized Stifel Nicolaus Weisel served as Robert Allen’s financial advisor on the transaction.

Tyco Retail Solutions has led a new financing in Kovio Inc., the printed silicon electronics company based in California. Current investors Kleiner Perkins, Caufield & Byers, DAG Ventures, Northgate Capital, Harris & Harris, Flagship Ventures and Pangaea Ventures also participated in the funding round.

Let’s Hope THIS One Doesn’t Contaminate, Um, Everything: Tony Hayward files for IPO to raise £1 billion for Vallares We Should Have Done That in 1998: Turns out the NYT’s paywall was a good idea SPACs! Are they back (preview: probably not, but here’s a new one anyway!) Spooked? Ambit Biosciences withdraws its IPO registration

Taykey, the Israel-launched mobile advertising technology company, just wrapped a $9 million funding from investors including Crescent Point, Softbank Capital and Sequoia Capital. Now, says co-founder and CEO Amit Avner, the company—at just $11 million raised—will build out its New York offices as it looks....

Syndax Pharmaceuticals, the Massachusetts-based oncology company, took on Arlene Morris to its board of directors. Morris was most recently the CEO and board member of Affymax Inc., the biopharma company spun from GlaxoSmithKline. Among Syndax’s backers are Domain Associates, MPM Capital, Avalon, Pappas and Forward Ventures.