Capital Buzz: Old School Ties

MicroStrategy's chief operating officer, Sanju K. Bansal, has made an investment in Clarabridge, the Reston-based data mining company founded by MIT classmate Sid Banerjee, according to Securities and Exchange Commission documents.

Bansal and Banerjee worked together at McLean-based MicroStrategy until Banerjee left in September 2001.

"We've remained in touch over the years since then," said Banerjee, who was a fraternity brother of Bansal, a co-founder of MicroStrategy with Michael J. Saylor.

Bansal's investment was part of $4.33 million that Clarabridge raised from existing investors plus Bansal, who joined the board in late 2009.

"We decided to raise a small round to provide the company the ability to make calculated investments in sales, marketing, partnership development and technology," Banerjee said.

Banerjee, 44, started Clarabridge in 2004 when he and a couple of partners put up $1 million from a previous successful venture. Clarabridge specializes in sifting through truckloads of text-based customer feedback.

Clarabridge's customers include AOL, Capital One, Choice Hotels, Expedia, Gaylord Hotels, H&R Block, Intuit, Marriott International, QVC, Sage North America, United Airlines, Wal-Mart, Walgreens, and Wendy's International.

Other investors include Clarabridge board members David Blundin, another MIT grad and a former MicroStrategy board member, and Don Rainey, general partner at Grotech Ventures, a Vienna-based venture capital firm.

FIRMS LINE UP FOR FELD PR JOB

Feld Entertainment, the Vienna-based live entertainment juggernaut that owns Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, Disney on Ice, Monster Jam and other shows, has narrowed its search for a public relations firm to replace Hill & Knowlton, its longtime PR firm.

"We had an excellent relationship with [Hill & Knowlton] for a number of years, but it was time for us to make a change and find new and different creative directions to raise the public awareness of the high-quality family entertainment spectaculars for which Feld Entertainment is known," said Feld spokesman Stephen Payne.