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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Emergence Capital Partners Oversubscribed for $200 Million Second Fund
June 20, 2007 (San Mateo, Calif.) - Emergence Capital Partners, a venture capital firm that specializes in investing in technology-enabled services companies, announced that it recently closed its second venture fund at its $200 million cap. The firm was targeting $175 million and was oversubscribed more than twofold. All institutional investors from Emergence Capital's first fund returned as investors in the new fund, along with several new investors, including some of the country's leading foundations and university endowments. "Emergence is one of the few firms positioned to be among the next generation of venture capital leaders," said Rick Hayes, Managing Partner of Oak Hill Investment Management and one of Emergence Capital's new investors. "Its team, track record of success and focused investment strategy has attracted some of the country's most prestigious institutional investors to their funds. Emergence has quickly established itself by investing in many of the next-generation leaders, such as Salesforce.com, HireRight and SuccessFactors," added Hayes. Emergence Capital has defined a new category of venture capital investing called Technology-Enabled Services ("TES"), which includes Software-as-a-Service ("SaaS"), business services, consumer Internet services and information services. Emergence partners were early investors in Salesforce.com, as well as other market-leading, TES companies such as aQuantive, DoubleClick, Ask Jeeves, and WebTV. "Software-as-a-Service is clearly the future of software," said Tien Tzuo, the Chief Strategy Officer of Salesforce.com. "Emergence Capital's laser focus and the success of its latest fund-raising underscore this movement. And by carving out a leadership position in this area, Emergence is joining Salesforce.com in helping to accelerate the movement of all software to the on-demand model." The Emergence partners also invested in HireRight which provides technology-enabled employee background screening services for large corporations. "The partners at Emergence were among the first to capitalize on a major shift toward technology solutions acquired as services," added Eric Boden, the CEO of HireRight. "As a result, the firm is now positioned as a leading Technology-Enabled Services investor in Silicon Valley. They have a team of savvy, experienced investors with a focused strategy that produces results." Emergence Capital has significant relationships with large technology companies that value Emergence's expertise and portfolio as a source of innovation, partnerships and acquisitions. "We are also adapting the on-demand software model and looking to collaborate with new, innovative companies in this space," said Gerry Mooney, IBM's Vice President of Corporate Strategy. "We've established a strategic partnership with Emergence Capital to fully capitalize on this growing opportunity." The public markets increasingly are placing premium market values on TES companies because of their robust growth and recurring revenue streams. Recent market interest in TES has supported numerous successful initial public offerings of TES companies, including Salesforce.com, RightNow and Omniture. Large technology companies are making strategic TES acquisitions, such as Cisco's purchase of WebEx and Intuit's acquisition of Digital Insight. "Wall Street now understands the significance of the Software-as-a-Service model," said Jason Maynard, a leading SaaS analyst at Credit Suisse. "Incumbent software companies will be challenged by this next generation of competitors and Emergence Capital has provided the early backing to many emerging SaaS leaders." About Emergence Capital Partners Emergence Capital Partners, based in San Mateo, Calif., is the leading venture capital firm focused on early and growth-stage Technology-Enabled Services companies. Its mission is to help build market leaders in partnership with great entrepreneurs. Emergence partners have funded and helped build more than 35 TES companies, more than any other early-stage venture firm. Emergence Capital has assets of over $325 million under management. For more information, visit www.emcap.com. |
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