Microsoft Among Investors in Elemental

Internet start-up Elemental Software Inc. has raised $8 million from a group of investors, including Microsoft Corp., which took a “significant” but undisclosed stake in the Carlsbad-based company. Elemental’s flagship Drumbeat software allows business professionals to create sophisticated Internet Web pages without programming knowledge, President Peter Hirshberg said. Other investors included Japan’s CSK Corp., which owns the video game maker Sega; JK&B; Capital, an investment firm that includes financier George Soros and Computer Associates International Inc. founder Charles Wang; and venture capital firm Accel Partners. Accel and CSK also contributed to an initial $2 million in financing for Elemental. Hirshberg said that the latest financing would support the release of a new version of Drumbeat early next year. He said Elemental Software, founded last year, hopes to go public but could not say when.