Acta Technology, Inc. Raises $14.5 Million in Mezzanine Financing; Customer Satisfaction and $3 Billion Market Cited As Data Warehousing Leader Brings Funding Total to $24 Million.

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 11, 1999--

Data warehousing leader Acta Technology, Inc.(tm) announced today that it has raised $14.5 million in its third round of financing.

This latest round of financing brings the company's funding total to $24 million.

"Acta's successful third round of financing recognizes their leadership in producing packaged data warehousing that addresses a real-world need," said Philip Russom, director of the data warehouse and business intelligence service at Hurwitz Group. "Many adopters of packaged ERP applications are now at the stage where the operational system is in place, and it's time for a warehouse component. These ERP adopters should turn to packaged data warehouse solutions to get great value out of the box and fast implementation of a working data warehouse."

According to the Gartner Group, the packaged data warehousing and business analysis market is expected to top $3 billion in 2000. Analysts expect the figure to grow as companies begin to integrate ERP (enterprise resource planning) and other back-office data with eCommerce applications.

New investors cited customer satisfaction and Acta's past and future potential in the packaged data warehousing market as the reason for their large investment.

"Acta has developed an impressive suite of solutions," said Garrett Van Wagoner, president of Van Wagoner Funds, the lead investor in the third-round. "But even more impressive to us is the extremely high level of customer satisfaction that the company has attained even as it has grown very rapidly. We anticipate that this funding will further fuel the company's growth, and we look forward to working with Acta to help them achieve their business goals in the rapidly growing decision support market."

Acta develops software for extracting and analyzing data from leading ERP (enterprise resource planning) applications. Proceeds from the latest round of funding will be used to support Acta's RapidMarts(tm), a suite of packaged data warehouses for targeted areas of business analysis: Sales Analysis RapidMarts, Cost Analysis RapidMarts, Inventory Management RapidMarts, and AR/AP (Accounts Receivable/Payable) RapidMarts.

Acta's customers are Global 1000 companies such as Chevron (NYSE:CHV), Shell Chemical Company, and Guinness. Acta will continue targeting large enterprises that have invested in ERP but cannot afford the time and expense of customizing solutions for extracting and analyzing the data for decision support. The company's expertise with the leading ERP applications -- from vendors such as SAP (NYSE:SAP) and PeopleSoft (Nasdaq:PSFT) -- is seen as a strong market differentiator.

"Extracting mission-critical data from SAP and providing easy-to-implement, out-of-the-box integration between analytic applications and SAP is difficult," said Carol Mills Baldwin, president and CEO of Acta Inc. "The management team and Acta developers have achieved a high level of integration between Acta and SAP, while providing world-class customer support. Our performance in engineering, quality, customer support, and sales and marketing has enabled us to exceed the expectations of our owners and our customers."

Acta investors in the third round were Van Wagoner Funds, Sycamore Venture Capital, Colman Partners, and Comdisco Ventures. They were joined by existing investors U.S. Venture Partners, Norwest Venture Partners, and Greylock Limited Partnerships.

About Acta Technology, Inc.

Founded in 1996, Acta Technology, Inc. is the leading provider of packaged data warehousing solutions used for decision support. Acta's award-winning technology is helping companies to jumpstart their business intelligence programs with pre-configured data solutions that can be implemented within days instead of months.

Acta is an active member of the SAP Complementary Software Program (CSP) and PeopleSoft Global Alliance Program. ActaWorks has been certified by PeopleSoft, and the Acta SAP BW interface has been certified by SAP. The company has established strategic partnerships with leading business intelligence, database, hardware, OS, and systems integration companies.

Acta customers include Chevron (NYSE:CHV), FX Meiller, Guinness, Maxtor (Nasdaq:MXTR), Monsanto (NYSE:MTC), S-B Power Tools (a division of Bosch GmbH), Shell Chemical Company, and other Global 1000 companies. Acta is headquartered at 1001 Elwell Court, Palo Alto, CA 94304, and has offices in London, Frankfurt and Paris. Sales and partnership inquiries should be directed to Acta's toll-free phone number 888/613-3282.

Note to Editors: Acta, RapidMarts and e2e are all trademarks of Acta Technology, Inc. All other product and company names mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.

For more information, visit Acta's Web site at http://www.acta.com.