BIBIT Secures Third-Round Funding of $8 Million; Despite tough market, investors confirm confidence in bright prospects of Europe's leading Internet payment service provider.Business Editors SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 18, 2001 BIBIT, Europe's leading provider of Internet payment services See Web payment service. , today announced the successful close of its Series C funding round of $8 million. New investors Residentie Investments account for $4 million, while the current investors, including Paribas Deelnemingen, Continuum Group Limited and Twinning, invested in the balance. This successful third-round funding clearly reflects Bibit's strong position in the national and international Internet payments markets, and demonstrates strong confidence in the company's growth perspectives by existing and new investors. The latest round of funding will be used for sales and marketing, as well as continued global expansion. "The additional funding is a great validation See validate. validation - The stage in the software life-cycle at the end of the development process where software is evaluated to ensure that it complies with the requirements. of Bibit's vision and the direction the company is heading," said Joost Schuijff, CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of Bibit. "As we continue to grow globally, the breadth of Bibit's international payment methods will also continue to expand, making it easier for merchants to reach new customers, and more secure for consumers to make purchases online." BIBIT offers U.S. businesses an end-to-end Internet payment solution that seamlessly and transparently integrates multi-currency and international payment methods into a single solution, streamlining European online payment between the customer, online merchant and financial institution. BIBIT supports more than 50 of the most common international payment methods, including credit, debit and smart cards Example of widely used contactless smart cards are Hong Kong's Octopus card, Paris' Calypso/Navigo card and Lisbon' LisboaViva card, which predate the ISO/IEC 14443 standard. The following tables list smart cards used for public transportation and other electronic purse applications. , WAP (1) (Wireless Access Point) See access point. (2) (Wireless Application Protocol) A standard for providing cellular phones, pagers and other handheld devices with secure access to e-mail and text-based Web pages. payments and bank transfers, allowing merchants to extend their reach across borders and penetrate new customers pools. "Despite the tightening of the venture capital market in the first months of this year, Residentie Investments has not hesitated to invest in Bibit," said Paul Schroder, Managing Director of Residentie Investments. "Bibit anticipates an unstoppable change in the market of payment systems, and has shown a strong and proven revenue model." "In spite of difficult market circumstances, Bibit has executed on its vision while demonstrating a scalable and profitable business model," said Hans Wackwitz, Managing Director of Paribas. "We have watched Bibit's progress closely from the beginning and have every confidence that Bibit will proceed energetically in expanding its prominent market position." BIBIT integrates best of breed components into an end-to-end solution (jargon) end-to-end solution - (E2ES) A term that suggests that the supplier of an application program or system will provide all the hardware and/or software components and resouces to meet the customer's requirement and no other supplier need be involved. Compare: turn-key solution. that streamlines and simplifies the complexities of financial transaction processing Updating the appropriate database records as soon as a transaction (order, payment, etc.) is entered into the computer. It may also imply that confirmations are sent at the same time. Transaction processing systems are the backbone of an organization because they update constantly. . Through its network of leading financial institutions Bibit has created systems that are fully multi-currency and multi-lingual. Offering the most complete payment solutions together with full order reconciliation, Bibit simplifies the process of doing business across Europe's fragmented frag·ment n. 1. A small part broken off or detached. 2. An incomplete or isolated portion; a bit: overheard fragments of their conversation; extant fragments of an old manuscript. 3. market. Since its inception in 1997, over 1,000 companies have turned to Bibit to integrate a broad range of international payment methods into their e-commerce or call center solutions. Recent new international clients include Interflora Fleurop Switzerland, Ocean24, Eurotax/Schwacke and ChateauOnline. In March, Bibit reached a substantial agreement with KPN KPN Koninklijke PTT Nederland (Royal Dutch Telecom) KPN Konfederacja Polski Niepodleglej (Polish conservative party) Telecommerce, in which clients of KPN's NetTransact service are connected to Bibit's Internet payment service. Bibit announced in early February its entry into the U.S. market, providing U.S. businesses access to the European e-commerce market, which is estimated to reach $67.2 billion in 2001, and grow to $1.5 trillion One thousand times one billion, which is 1, followed by 12 zeros, or 10 to the 12th power. See space/time. (mathematics) trillion - In Britain, France, and Germany, 10^18 or a million cubed. In the USA and Canada, 10^12. by 2005--comprising about 25% of the global e-commerce market. About Bibit Bibit Internet Payments (Bibit) is Europe's leading Internet Payment Service Provider, supporting online businesses through offices in Germany, France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. . Its digital payment service seamlessly integrates into e-commerce solutions, supporting nearly 50 payment methods, including conventional credit cards as well as a variety of on and off line methods. Bibit's extensive customer list includes DaimlerChrysler, The Financial Times, Canon, Xerox, and Interflora. For more information, please visit the company's Web site at www.bibit.com. About Paribas Deelnemingen Paribas Deelnemingen is part of Paribas Affaires Industrielles (PAI PAI plasminogen activator inhibitor. PAI Plasminogen activator inhibitor, see there ), the private equity arm of the BNP Paribas BNP Paribas (Euronext: BNP, TYO: 8665 ) is one of the main banks in Europe and France. It was created on 23 May 2000 through the merger of Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP) and Paribas. Group. PAI operates BNP-Paribas' direct investments (estimated value equal to 8.0 billion Euros as of December, 2000). In addition PAI manages private equity funds in which BNP-Paribas, acting as sponsor, is associated with other major institutional investors Institutional Investor A non-bank person or organization that trades securities in large enough share quantities or dollar amounts that they qualify for preferential treatment and lower commissions. . These funds focus on leveraged acquisitions. PAI operates with teams in Paris, Amsterdam (Paribas Deelnemingen), Brussels, Milan and Madrid. Within PAI, Paribas Deelnemingen is responsible for investments in The Netherlands. Paribas Deelnemingen currently holds around 20 direct investments representing a total investment (at cost) of around 150 million Euros. The investments range from participations and buy-outs to venture capital. Major investments are Versatel, Swets & Zeitlinger, Bibit, InterXion, and Vegro. About Residentie Investments Residentie Investments provides venture capital and management experience to innovative enterprises with huge growth potential. Of her total funded capital, nearly fl 400 million has been invested in approximately 65 growing and expanding companies in Europe and the U.S. To support innovative industries, Residentie has established three funds, Agritech 2007 (energy, food, and environmental; issues), LifeSciences-Partners (bio and medical technology) and P3 Technology Partners (information technology). Residentie is actively involved in all her Internet and e-business investments. To date, approximately 17 Internet investments have been realized including InterXion, IP Globalnet, Anachron, UniXs, GlobalLearningSystems, Imerge, Siennax and X-Hive. In addition to capital and management experience, Residentie offers her partners an international network comprised of Friends Ivory ivory, type of dentin present only in the tusks of the elephant. Ivory historically has been obtained mainly from Africa, where elephant tusks are larger than they are in Asia, the second major source, and much dead ivory was taken from remains of extinct mammoths & Sime Private Equity in London, Capiton AG in Berlin and Redleaf Group, a U.S.-based Internet investor. |
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