CascadeWorks, the leader in enabling services e-procurement, today announced the completion of its second round of financing. The $8 million round was led by Kennet Capital Limited - Broadview's early stage venture affiliate, with existing investor NEA also participating. CascadeWorks will use the funding to continue its penetration of the growing market for services e-procurement solutions and to aggressively grow its customer base which currently includes leading companies such as ABN AMRO North America, Autodesk, Charles Schwab and Texas Instruments.
"We are impressed with CascadeWorks' ability to deliver immediate and significant cost savings to its customers which is critical in today's economy," said Javier Rojas managing director at Kennet Capital LLC. "As a result, CascadeWorks has successfully closed marquee customers, attracted key partners like Ariba and proven its ability to compete effectively against other top-tier technology players."
Completing this round of funding caps a series of recent accomplishments for the company. In October, CascadeWorks released CascadeWorks™ Clarity 3.0, the third-generation release of its application suite that leverages the Internet to drive the entire services purchasing life cycle, from requisition to payment, across multiple business units and all service categories in the enterprise.
CascadeWorks furthered its momentum by signing numerous strategic alliances. Most recently, the company announced an alliance with Ariba® Inc., through which Ariba will leverage CascadeWorks' Clarity Services E-procurement Suite to deliver Ariba® Workforce™, an Ariba-branded solution for selecting, procuring, and managing temporary staff, contractors, and consultants. The alliance provides CascadeWorks with worldwide market presence and Ariba the ability to offer new and installed customers greater cost savings.
The company also recently announced that top staffing firms joined the CascadeWorks Ready program, demonstrating their endorsement of CascadeWorks Clarity and the benefits of services e-procurement. CascadeWorks also signed a partnership with PrO Unlimited to offer optional vendor on premise services for companies preferring centralized staffing management. Other recent partnerships accelerated CascadeWorks' drive to deliver maximum value in the areas of human capital management, professional services automation and contractor compliance screening.
"In today's difficult business environment, funding is awarded only to companies that will emerge from this market as leaders," said Diana Jovin, CEO of CascadeWorks. "Clearly, the investment community has confidence that CascadeWorks is bringing real value to customers by driving significant cost savings in an area where companies currently spend the majority of their purchasing dollars. This funding is an endorsement of how important our solution is to businesses right now and our ability to lead in this new market for services e-procurement."
Kennet Capital Limited is the early-stage venture capital affiliate of Broadview, a leading global M&A advisor and private equity investor focused exclusively on the IT, communications and media industries. The fund has $275 million under management. Kennet Capital Limited places a strong emphasis on investments in networking and communications technologies, semiconductor IP, Internet infrastructure and enterprise software. Kennet Capital Limited strives to leverage the collective intellectual capital of the entire Broadview organization to the benefit of portfolio companies. Kennet Capital Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. For additional information, visit www.kennet.com.
New Enterprise Associates (NEA) is a leading venture capital firm investing primarily in biotechnology, information technology, and medical/life sciences companies. Practicing classic venture capital for over 20 years, NEA focuses on early stage investments, playing an active role in assisting management to build companies of lasting value. With $4.9 billion under management, NEA's experienced management team has invested in over 400 companies, of which more than 135 have gone public and more than 150 have been acquired. For additional information, visit www.nea.com.
CascadeWorks enables Global 2000 companies to derive strategic business advantage from services e-procurement - the inter-enterprise process for sourcing, managing, and paying for services. CascadeWorks' integrated suite of applications, CascadeWorks Clarity, delivers improved management of spend, procurement process and vendor networks addressing the complex inter-enterprise interactions specific to the services procurement life cycle. In use at major corporations such as ABN AMRO North America, Autodesk, Charles Schwab and Texas Instruments, CascadeWorks solutions help businesses significantly reduce costs by optimizing spend, improving process efficiencies, and optimizing the management of their vendors across all categories of services. Based in San Francisco, CA, CascadeWorks is a privately held company with venture capital backing from New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and Kennet Capital Limited.
November 29, 2001
CONSUL Risk Management, a global IT security software provider, today announced a second-round injection of 11 million euros from new investors SOFTBANK Europe Ventures (SBEV) and Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, along with existing investors, NeSBIC CTe Fund and Kennet Capital. This new funding will enable CONSUL to further establish itself as an innovative leader in the enterprise security audit software market by enhancing its audit and administration software product offering, as well as globally expanding the business.
Security auditing software is crucial to the overall security architecture of any business because it ensures that the front-line, security infrastructure is cohesively deployed from the start and prevents it from being undermined at a later stage. CONSUL software covers the activities of internal as well as external users, such as suppliers, customers, partners as well as malicious individuals. IT security auditing is also becoming a 'must-have,' rather than a 'would-like-to-have' due to the demands of new e-business IT infrastructures, operational imperatives and new legislation. The security audit market is poised for rapid growth, as almost all of the Fortune 500 companies have deployed front-line security infrastructure (including firewalls, intrusion detection and user authentication systems), but only the most advanced have yet taken the essential next step of auditing and verifying the security of these infrastructures on an on-going basis.
CONSUL has developed comprehensive, multi-platform security software for IT networks, which does for the network what a security video camera does in a department store or an airport. CONSUL's signature solution, Consul/eAudit version 3.1 (CeA) observes, records and reports the activity of both authorized and unauthorized users on the IT network, thus enabling a company to deter security breaches. With CeA, large corporations are able to manage their security infrastructure efficiently, safely and at a lower cost.
"We have invested in CONSUL because we recognize the increasing need for companies to audit their IT security, and CONSUL's software covers the widest range of platforms and applications in the industry," said James Stuart, managing director of SOFTBANK Europe Ventures. "CONSUL is already one of the largest private companies in the security software industry, with an impressive client base in the US and Europe. This investment will enable it to become globally recognized as a leading force in this industry."
In addition to addressing the audit sector of the security enterprise software market, CONSUL also provides software and consultancy to the emerging group of Managed Security Service (MSS) companies. These services and solutions enable small and medium companies to immediately meet their required IT security level with little effort or financial investment on their part.
Tolga Uzuner, of DrKW's OM Investments team, said: "This investment is consistent with our vision for enterprise security needs in the next-generation open platforms which will be critical to growth of e-business. CONSUL is positioned at the forefront of enterprise-wide audit security and we look forward to contributing to their continued growth."
"The addition of the global reach and service capacities of SBEV and DrKW as investors complements CONSUL's original backers and rounds out a strong team of investors behind the company, said Martin Poulsen, a vice president at Kennet Capital Limited.
"We are thrilled to welcome SOFTBANK Europe Ventures (SBEV) and Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein as new CONSUL investors," said Koen Bouwers, CEO of CONSUL Risk Management. "The additional investment by previous investors, NeSBIC and Kennet Capital, speaks to the results CONSUL has delivered to date and their confidence in our future. We look forward to using this new financing to further enhance our enterprise-wide audit and administration software and continue our global expansion."
CONSUL is a leading worldwide IT security software developer specialized in audit and admin tools for enterprise-wide security management. CONSUL has years of experience with security and system performance solutions. Based in Delft, The Netherlands, CONSUL was founded in 1986 and has since then grown into the largest independent security software company in the Netherlands. CONSUL is internationally represented by subsidiaries in the USA, Germany and Denmark, and sales offices worldwide. In 1998, NeSBIC CTe Fund and Kennet Capital participated in the financing of the company. Since 1995, CONSUL has been active in the US market and has an office in the Boston area. CONSUL is committed to the highest standard in its products and services, which range from consultancy, managed security services, penetration testing to enterprise-wide audit and administration security software. With CONSUL security solutions, large corporations can manage their security infrastructure efficiently, safely and at lower cost. CONSUL consultancy and managed security services enable medium and small corporations to meet their required IT security level with great ease. Confidence in a networked world!
Please visit www.consul.com for more information.
Kennet Capital Limited is the early-stage venture capital affiliate of Broadview, a leading global M&A advisor and private equity investor focused exclusively on the IT, communications and media industries. The fund has $275 million under management. Kennet Capital Limited places a strong emphasis on investments in networking and communications technologies, semiconductor IP, Internet infrastructure and enterprise software. Kennet Capital Limited strives to leverage the collective intellectual capital of the entire Broadview organization to the benefit of portfolio companies. Kennet Capital Limited is regulated by IMRO in the UK.
For additional information, visit www.kennet.com
SOFTBANK Europe Ventures (SBEV) is a venture capital fund, focusing on best-of-breed, early-stage technology companies across Europe and Israel. SOFTBANK Europe Ventures' goal is to partner with the most promising entrepreneurs to help build world-class companies. The fund is managed through its office in London. SBEV is part of SOFTBANK CORP, one of the world's leaders in technology, with holdings in more than 600 companies globally. SBEV brings its portfolio companies the benefits of its active hands-on approach, as well as SOFTBANK's international network of companies, contacts and partners.
For more information, please visit www.softbank.com
Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein is the marketing name for the investment bank of Dresdner Bank AG, a member of the Allianz Group. Headquartered in London, Frankfurt and New York, DrKW provides a full range of investment banking products and services to European and other international clients including corporations, institutions and governments through its Investment Banking, Global Equities, Global Debt, Online Markets and Private Equity business lines. DrKW adds value for its clients by utilizing its strengths in European debt and equity markets and its leading position in European distribution, risk management, derivatives and international M&A and advisory work. For more information, please visit www.drkw.com
The fund managed by the OM Investments team has an investment focus on private emerging technology companies whose innovations will impact the evolution of the financial services industry or where a large proportion of revenue may be derived from financial clients.
The NeSBIC CTe Fund is a leading Pan-European independent venture capital fund targeted exclusively at fast growing communications & infrastructure and enabling technologies companies, which are not yet listed on the stock exchange. As a value-added venture capital partner, the CTe Fund truly takes an active part in helping portfolio companies achieve their business vision. In the last three years the CTe Fund has established an international portfolio of over 30 companies in this specific market segment. Well known examples are: VersaTel Telecom, EC-Gate, Altitude Software, Inforay, Energiebedrijf.com, Poseidon and BabyXL. For more information, please visit www.ctefund.com
FUNDING FUELS VOLANTIS EXPANSION SOFTBANK UK Ventures and Kennet Capital invest $9 million in Volantis
London, 28 March 2001
Volantis Systems Ltd, a leading provider of solutions for delivering device-aware web applications, has secured venture capital funding of $9 million from SOFTBANK UK Ventures, the technology-focused venture capital fund and Kennet Capital, the early-stage private equity arm of Broadview. David Sola, managing director of SOFTBANK UK, will join the Volantis board as a result of the investment.
Volantis’s core software is an Application Server based “Pervasive Internet platform”, managing user experience by intelligently optimising the presentation and behaviour of web applications, across dozens of different devices including PC, mobile phones and PDAs and interactive television.
Terry Davies, Volantis’s CEO commented: “This second round of investment from SOFTBANK and Kennet will drive an exciting new phase of global expansion planned for Volantis. Our investors’ experience, strategic advice, and international contacts are invaluable in our growth. Our product will allow customers to provide a differentiating advantage through offering content and functionality via alternative web-enabled devices as a means of supporting, servicing and selling to new and existing consumers.”
Since its inception, Volantis has grown to more than 50 employees and received strong interest amongst early customers. In addition, its key strategic partners such as BEA, ATG and IBM have shown the value its Mariner software brings in delivering the Pervasive Internet. The newly launched version 2.0 includes a live update service to Volantis’ device repository that contains analysis of the attributes and form factors of different products, standards and platforms. This live XML-based Internet service enables customers with Mariner-based applications to support the latest devices on the market without waiting for the next major release of the product.
David Sola, managing director of SOFTBANK UK comments: “Volantis’s product allows companies to develop one web site which can then be accessed from anywhere. With the management team’s strong background in enterprise class infrastructure software and the company’s close relationship with strategic ebusiness vendors, Volantis has already proved attractive to key decisions makers.”
David Carratt, managing director at Kennet Capital’s London office says: “The Volantis management team is ideally positioned to develop the huge interest the company has already achieved with numerous blue-chip companies. Volantis’s unique technology will allow their customers to manage the introduction of new devices and channels as soon as they hit the market. The company’s customers are enthusiastic at the prospect of reaching an increased number of web site users without constantly adapting content.”
Volantis, which was formed in 2000, achieved first round funding of approximately $3 million from Kennet Capital in July last year. This second round of funding will be used to expand the organization, develop product enhancements and grow sales and distribution channels.
Ends
Kennet Capital ("Kennet"), a venture capital fund focused on European technology, internet and telecoms companies, announced today that it has invested in Finnish technology company VDSL Systems Oy ("VDSL Systems"), which develops VDSL (Very High-Speed Digital Subscriber Line) broadband communications equipment.
Kennet's investment is part of a FIM 16 million (Euro 2.7m) financing of VDSL Systems, which will provide the capital needed to fund the next stage of the company's development. SFK Finance, which was recently acquired by 3i, is an existing investor in VDSL and has co-invested in the current financing.
VDSL Systems designs high-speed broadband equipment that can integrate with conventional telephone networks. The company’s products exploit the theoretical maximum available transmission capacity over traditional copper lines. VDSL technology has the capacity to run uplink speeds at over thirty times the speed of ADSL, with uploading and downloading speeds capable of reaching 26Mbps. VDSL technology will enable the highly cost-efficient implementation of services such as video-on-demand, video conferencing, as well as super-fast Internet connections.
VDSL Systems, founded in 1999, is headquartered in Espoo, Finland. The company currently employs 25 people and expects to grow the team to 40 by the end of the year.
Commenting on the investment, Michael Elias, managing director of Kennet, said: "VDSL Systems has developed a world-class technology and has the potential to be a significant player in the rapidly expanding broadband communications equipment industry. We recognise the company's considerable growth opportunities and we are confident that the company will expand aggressively with its new funding."
Vesa Sadeharju from SFK Finance added: “This investment is an important step forward towards developing VDSL Systems into a true global player in the DSL market,”
"This investment by a respected international venture capital group is further evidence of the strength of the technology and an endorsement of VDSL Systems’ development strategy. With an investor that has strong relationships in the American and European markets, we are even more confident than before about our future”, concluded VDSL Systems’ president, Jussi Autere.
Kennet Capital Limited is the early-stage venture capital affiliate of Broadview, a leading global M&A advisor and private equity investor focused exclusively on the IT, communications and media industries. The fund has $275 million under management. Kennet Capital Limited places a strong emphasis on investments in networking and communications technologies, semiconductor IP, Internet infrastructure and enterprise software. Kennet Capital Limited strives to leverage the collective intellectual capital of the entire Broadview organization to the benefit of portfolio companies. Kennet Capital Limited is regulated by IMRO in the UK.
Altitun AB, a Swedish optical components company backed by Kennet Capital, the venture capital fund focused on the European Technology sector, has been acquired by US company, ADC Telecommunications, Inc. (Nasdaq:ADCT) for approximately US$872 million. The value of the transaction sets a new record for the highest price paid for an early-stage European technology company. Kennet Capital invested £1 million in Altitun in October 1999.
Altitun, a world leader in tunable laser technology, has developed a set of products which enable telecoms providers to deploy high-bandwidth networks at lower costs. The tunable laser has practical applications in both existing and next-generation optical networks. While currently deployed telecommunications lasers only emit light at a single wavelength, tunable lasers can emit light at multiple wavelengths, significantly reducing the overall cost of deploying WDM (Wavelength Division Multiplexing) based telecommunications networks.
Founded in 1997, Altitun has offices in Sweden, the US and the UK.
Commenting on the acquisition, Michael Elias, managing director of Kennet Capital and a director of Altitun, said: “This is a landmark transaction and one which demonstrates the strength of European technology in the optical communications sector. Altitun’s partnership with a top tier global company such as ADC will enable it to consolidate its position as a leading vendor of semiconductor tunable lasers. ”
Other recent Kennet portfolio successes include Paragon Software, a provider of software for wireless devices, which was sold in February this year to Phone.com (Nasdaq: PHCM) for US$515 million, and No Wires Needed, a leading Dutch developer of wireless LAN technology, which has signed an agreement to be acquired by Intersil (Nasdaq: ISIL), a leader in the development of communications semiconductors.
Kennet Capital was established in 1997 as a joint venture between Broadview, a leading global investment bank focused on the IT, Communications and Media industries, and Electra Managers Ltd, an international private equity group. Kennet invests exclusively in European information and communications businesses and contributes actively in the strategy of those businesses. Investment size is typically between £2 and £4 million, and ranges from start-up financings to development stage capital. To date, Kennet Capital has invested in 14 businesses from its £48 million venture capital fund. Recent investments by Kennet Capital include: E-Marketing, a leading UK-based e-business consultancy; PipingHot Networks, a developer of broadband fixed wireless communications; Aspective, an enterprise ASP providing integrated front office and e-commerce services to European businesses; Cramer Systems, a supplier of service delivery solutions to the telecoms industry; CitiKey, a developer of location-based WAP-content for wireless devices; and Interance (formerly Polisys), an e-commerce enabler for the insurance industry.
Altitun AB (www.altitun.com) provides a full tunable laser product line, designed to help systems vendors and carriers reduce costs today and drive the all-optical networks of tomorrow. Altitun is the provider of the world’s most complete tunable laser product line. It is the first tunable laser company to offer an integrated electronics control package that ensures easy management and integration.
Intersil Holding Corporation (Nasdaq:ISIL - news), a leader in the rapidly growing integrated communications market, announced today that it has signed an agreement to acquire Bilthoven, Netherlands-based No Wires Needed B.V. for Intersil common stock. No Wires Needed is an established industry leader in wireless solutions and serves the rapidly expanding high data rate wireless local area network (WLAN) market with easy-to-use, flexible and mobile wireless connections to broadband communications in homes, small offices and throughout corporate campuses.
"Wireless local area networking demand is growing rapidly as wireless connectivity grows in offices and homes" said Greg Williams, president and CEO of Intersil. "Our strategy is to provide wireless semiconductor and software architectures and this acquisition will allow us to provide even more value to our customers by bringing them a wider portfolio of solutions that get them to market faster. I believe our industry-leading customers - companies such as Cisco, Nokia, Compaq, 3Com, Dell, Siemens, Samsung and Symbol - will welcome the new capabilities of our No Wires Needed-enriched PRISM portfolio."
Williams continued, "There is great synergy here, with their complimentary technologies helping speed our transition to high growth, higher gross margin integrated communications solutions - a transition that is already ahead of plan. Additionally, both businesses are growing well. In fact, sequential sales growth in the first quarter of calendar 2000 was 54 percent for our PRISM wireless business while No Wires Needed reported an increase of 47 percent."
No Wires Needed has complementary competencies that include its innovative, high performance access point which wirelessly connects multiple PCs, hand-helds or Internet appliances to broadband media. No Wires Needed also has excellent ARM-based medium access control (MAC) technology, with its IEEE802.11-compliant ARM-based MAC being the only one in production today. This MAC technology can support up to 54 Megabit-per-second (Mbps) data rates, ideal for emerging 5 GHz wireless standards.
Intersil is today's world leader in 11 megabit per second (Mbps), IEEE802.11-compliant wireless. "The 11 Mbps high data rate market is growing and will be a significant opportunity for years" said Williams. "Voice over Internet, high data rate web browsing and digital video are all available now with our fast PRISM II chip sets." No Wires Needed positions Intersil to take advantage of emerging future data rates of 50 Mbps and beyond for moving multi-channel voice and digital video around offices and homes. Finally, No Wires Needed brings other complementary offerings, including advanced encryption software for secure communications in multi-tenant, multi-user locations and building-to-building bridges for fixed wireless applications. "In summary, the No Wires Needed portfolio is a perfect fit and provides many pieces that complete the PRISM total solution," Williams added.
"The entire No Wires Needed team is pleased to join the Intersil PRISM team and co-develop new products that accelerate our momentum in this quickly expanding marketplace," said Hans Van der Hoek, president and CEO of No Wires Needed. "We're a synergistic fit, and our combined resources will allow customers to move quickly to take advantage of significant wireless market opportunities."
The all stock transaction has been approved by the Boards of Directors of both companies and is scheduled to close within approximately 30 days, subject to obtaining required consents from No Wires Needed shareholders and meeting other customary closing conditions. No Wires Needed shareholders will receive between 3.0 and 3.35 million shares, depending on the closing prices for Intersil shares during an agreed-upon period preceding the closing. "This transaction is expected to be neutral to our calendar year 2000 earnings before goodwill amortization" Williams commented. "We anticipate it will become accretive, on a cash earnings basis, early in 2001. That revenue should grow to $50 million, on an annualized run rate, by the fourth quarter of 2001. Our combined capabilities will accelerate growth of Intersil's other wireless products and give us great traction in these markets."
Since introducing the PRISM WLAN chip set in 1996, over 50 companies have incorporated PRISM chips in more than 100 product designs. PRISM technology is designed to comply with the IEEE's 802.11 global standard and Intersil is a founding sponsor of the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (WECA), whose Wi-FiTM brand will ensure compatibility between various 802.11-based systems. Intersil has a continuing program to rapidly introduce better performing, more highly integrated generations of PRISM chip sets and supporting design tools.
No Wires Needed B.V., established in 1994 in Bilthoven, The Netherlands, is a leading provider of IEEE 802.11-compliant wireless LAN technology and products and was the first industry vendor to ship a secure, IEEE 802.11b wireless LAN solution. No Wires Needed's innovative AirLockTM Security Software adds transparent, enhanced security to wireless LANs. The company is a member of the Wireless LAN Alliance (WLANA) and the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (WECA). For further information about the company and its products, please visit the No Wires Needed website: http://www.nowiresneeded.com.
Intersil uses its semiconductor expertise to enable highly integrated voice, data and video communications. Intersil's integrated communications portfolio includes PRISM® Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) chip sets that enable mobile connectivity products for the home and office; analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits for broadband access to wireless and wired Wide Area Networks (WANs); and power management products that enable 24x7 reliability in network servers, next generation PCs and information appliances.
This press release contains information relating to forecasted results of Intersil, including certain projections and business trends, that are forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from these forward-looking statements as a result of certain risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to No Wires Needed's ability to become accretive, on a cash earnings basis, in early 2001 and achieve $50 million annualized run-rate by the fourth quarter of 2001, global and market conditions as well as other risks and uncertainties detailed from time to time in Intersil's filings with the Securities Exchange Commission. These forward-looking statements are made only as of the date of this press release and Intersil undertakes no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Specific risk factors can be found in Intersil's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.