Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Paragon Lake crafts a $5.8M first round

By Mass High Tech Staff

Paragon Lake Inc. reports that it has closed a $5.8 million Series A round of financing.

Lexington-based Paragon Lake, a web-based supplier of custom-designed jewelry, plans to use the funding to expand its operations and ramp its service offering, company officials said.

The investment round was co-led by venture capital firms Lexington-based Highland Capital Partners and Canaan Partners, which operates an office in Westport, Conn. As part of the deal, Canaan venture partner Daniel Ciporin will join the company’s board of directors.

Paragon Lake, founded in 2006, was co-founded by CEO Matt Lauzon and fellow Babson student Jason Reuben. The company, which employed 10 workers as of April, now maintains retail partnerships with jewelry stores in 14 states, officials said.

Last year, Lauzon and Reuben participated in Highland Capital’s Summer@Highland program, which the firm launched last year to help entrepreneurs develop their business ideas.