Benchmark Capital invests EUR 3.2 million in NewBay Software; NewBay Targets Mobile Internet Market with Community and Social Software Systems.Business Editors/High-Tech Writers DUBLIN, Ireland--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 13, 2004 NewBay Software, developer of the world's first mobile phone blogging system, has received a EUR EUR In currencies, this is the abbreviation for the Euro. Notes: The currency market, also known as the Foreign Exchange market, is the largest financial market in the world, with a daily average volume of over US $1 trillion. 3.2 million investment from the European office of Benchmark Capital Benchmark Capital is a venture capital firm responsible for the early stage funding of some very successful startups, including eBay. In 1995, the firm invested $6.7 million in eBay, which became worth more than $5 billion by the spring of 1999 and resulted in one of Silicon , the leading technology venture capital firm. The funding will enable NewBay to expand its current operations and develop new products and services based on its leading FoneBlog(TM) product. Commenting on the investment, Paddy Holahan, 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 NewBay Software said, "The Benchmark funding gives NewBay the necessary resources and momentum to accelerate our growth. It also provides a strong, global endorsement of our business plans for the mobile internet Refers to gaining access to the Internet using a lightweight, handheld device. See Mobile IP, PDA, smartphone and mobile TV. marketplace." Mr Barry Maloney, partner at Benchmark Capital, commented. "Mobile Internet usage is growing rapidly as operators roll-out new devices, higher bandwidth and new data services. NewBay with its strong management team and new funding can now build on its success to date to become the global leader in providing community and social software systems for this market." As part of Benchmark's investment in NewBay, Barry Maloney will join the Board of the company. NewBay Software achieved a number of significant milestones in its first year, including: -- Launch of the world's first mobile blogging product -- Deploying the first commercial FoneBlog service with O2 Ireland -- Strong revenue and profitability in its first year of operations -- Winning a large contract for FoneBlog in North America North America, third largest continent (1990 est. pop. 365,000,000), c.9,400,000 sq mi (24,346,000 sq km), the northern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. -- Winning the Ericsson award for Best Information Service in Europe -- Numerous pilots and early stage deployments NewBay's main product, FoneBlog(TM), provides mobile phone users with a personal internet website where they can post pictures, audio, video and text to share with others over PC and mobile phone browsers. FoneBlog is sold as a product and service to mobile operators worldwide. About NewBay Software NewBay (www.newbay.com) develops and markets software that enables mobile phone users to easily create and run websites. NewBay sells its FoneBlog software system to mobile phone operators worldwide enabling them to increase revenue, customer loyalty and internet data services. NewBay Software was founded in 2002 and is based in Dublin, Ireland. NewBay is privately held. About Benchmark Capital Benchmark Capital was founded in 1995 to help talented entrepreneurs build major technology companies focused on long-term growth. Benchmark's partners take a labour-intensive, team-oriented, approach to venture investing venture investing The acquiring of a stake in a start-up company by a brokerage firm or analyst by obtaining discounted, pre-IPO shares. Critics claim venture investing causes analysts to have a vested interest in seeing a stock appreciate in value and so to deliver a superior level of service to the firm's portfolio companies. Benchmark's portfolio includes franchise companies such as Ariba (Nasdaq: ARBA), eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY), Juniper Networks Juniper Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: JNPR) is an information technology company based in Sunnyvale, California and founded in 1996. The company designs and sells Internet Protocol network products and services. (Nasdaq: JNPR JNPR Juniper Networks, Inc. (stock symbol) ), Red Hat (Nasdaq: RHAT RHAT Red Hat (stock symbol) RHAT Rainwater Harvesting Association of Tanzania RHAT Register Hba Attributes ), Alphyra (the leading pan-European electronic payments business) and UK- based Betfair (the worlds largest online betting company). Managing more than $2 billion in committed venture capital, Benchmark focuses on early-stage investing in markets where the partners have direct, relevant experience. Benchmark manages one of the largest early stage, high tech investment funds Noun 1. investment funds - money that is invested with an expectation of profit investment assets - anything of material value or usefulness that is owned by a person or company dedicated to investing in Europe of $500 million. Benchmark has been in Europe since May 2000 and has made 25 European investments to date, across a variety of market sectors and geographies. For more information on Benchmark, visit www.benchmark.com |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion