VCs Shower $$ On FirstRainVCs Shower $$ On FirstRain

At a time when instant messaging is taking on increasing importance in the workplace, one company's "instant awareness" technology has drawn investors' interest. FirstRain, a New York developer of business-intelligence software, said last week that it raised $11 million in second-round funding led by Allegra Partners, Diamondhead Ventures, St. Paul Venture Capital, and Myriad Investments.

FirstRain offers technology that snips content from pages on business intranets or the Internet, aggregates the data, and updates it in real time for immediate access by employees. The content can be downloaded to PDAs and other wireless devices.

The software can be used to track sales figures, the stock market, or dynamic pricing on exchanges, says FirstRain founder and CEO Gaurav Rewari.

FirstRain previously received $2.3 million from angel investors who included Stanford University president John Hennessy, Sun Microsystems chief technical officer Greg Papadopoulos, and consulting firm McKinsey & Co. CEO Rajat Gupta.