Transera Communications Inc., a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based provider of virtual software, raked in $17 million in fourth-round funding. Return backers include Accel Partners, Apax Partners, Lighthouse Capital Partners and Storm Ventures. The funds will be used to accelerate the company’s rapid growth and fuel investments in customer acquisition, go-to-market partnerships, service infrastructure, and product development, said the company.

“As an organization, we are committed to continuing our track record of technology innovation and marquee customer acquisition. This new funding will allow us to aggressively capitalize on rapidly increasing enterprise adoption of software as a service contact center solutions,” said Pram Uppaluru, Transera’s president and chief executive officer. “With thousands of agents and millions of customer interactions per month active on our service, we have proven that Transera’s software as a service solution for on-demand contact centers delivers considerable business value to enterprises and outsourcers.”

“In these lean economic times, companies are actively looking for ways to reduce their capital and operating expenses,” said Michael DeSalles, strategic analyst at Frost & Sullivan. “Software as a service-based hosted contact centers can provide significant reductions in total cost of ownership to companies seeking to reduce expenses and improve contact center operations. Transera’s on-demand contact center solution, proven enterprise-class service delivery, and strong investor support positions them well to take advantage of this market opportunity.”

In other venture capital news:

•Aster Data Systems, a provider of the analytic databases for  data warehousing, recently closed $5 million additional second-round funding from Institutional Venture Partners.

The funding brings the total second round of financing to $17 million, led by JAFCO Ventures, and includes return backers Sequoia Capital, Cambrian Ventures and First Round Capital.

“IVP has a strong record of backing some of the most influential technology companies of our era, and we welcome them as our newest investor during this exciting time for Aster,” said Mayank Bawa, Aster’s chief executive officer and co-founder. “We saw great success in the past year, and expanding this financing round will help us continue to innovate and grow aggressively, with a nice cushion to ride the economic waves, to provide the best data warehousing engine on the market.”

Aster data Systems is headquartered in Redwood City.

•San Jose-based ePlanet Ventures, a venture capital firm, recently invested $5 million in an agricultural chemical company in India, Sree Ramcides Chemicals Pvt. Ltd. The company’s products are primarily used in the crop protection, plant health and nutrients space.

“India is the fourth largest agrochemicals producer after the United States, Japan and China. Ramcides has a growing presence in the crop protection and plant nutrient sectors. ePlanet Ventures’ investment will help us to grab growth, expand our manufacturing facilities and enter into new areas like micro nutrients,” said R. Padmanabhan, Ramicides Chemicals’ managing partner.

•Konarka Technologies Inc., a developer of a material that converts light into energy, hauled in $5 million in connection with its recently opened production facility in New Bedford, Mass.

The loan comes from a funding collaboration between the Emerging Technology Fund of Massachusetts Development Finance Agency and the Massachusetts Renewable Energy Trust’s Business Expansion Initiative.

With the opening of its manufacturing location in New Bedford in October 2008, Lowell-based Konarka expanded its presence in Massachusetts, retrofitting Polaroid’s advanced technology development and flagship large-scale manufacturing facility to develop and commercialize Konarka Power Plastic.

The late Sukant Tripathy is Konarka Technology’s co-founder.

•Aveksa Inc. recently closed on $10 million of third round funding. FTV Capital led the round. Aveksa will use the capital to expand its global operations, sales, marketing and product development efforts.

The round also includes continued participation from FirstMark Capital and Charles River Ventures.

This year, Waltham-based Aveksa’s fourth year of operations, the company doubled its customer count, expanded its partner alliances and increased sales by nearly 350 percent over the previous fiscal year, according to the company.

“The continued support of FTV Capital, FirstMark Capital and Charles River Ventures provides tremendous validation of the growth opportunity that Aveksa represents, even in the current economic climate,” said Arun Oberoi, Aveska’s CEO.