Covalent picks up $18 million

Covalent Technologies, which sells enhancements to the open-source Apache software for delivering Web pages, has received $18 million in funding in a third-round investment led by Menlo Ventures with participation from Sequoia Capital and Granite Ventures. The funding will be used to expand product development, sales and marketing, the company said Monday.

In addition, San Francisco-based Covalent has announced several executive appointments. Mark Brewer, formerly of customer relationship software maker Banter, has become vice president of field operations and has primary responsibility for sales. Aleks Rabrenovich has been promoted to vice president of finance and operations, and Jim Harter has been promoted to vice president of professional services.