Sphera
Receives $4 Million in Series D Funding From Leading
Venture Capital Firms [20th November 2003]
BOSTON, Nov 20, 2003 /PRNewswire via
COMTEX/ -- Sphera Corporation, the leading global provider
of Web hosting automation and management software, today
announced that it has secured $4 million in Series D
financing to accelerate Sphera's business development
plans. Leading venture capital firms JVP, TLcom Capital
Partners, Vision Capital, Gemini Israel Funds and Banc
of America Capital Partners are the five repeat investors
to finance the round. To date, Sphera has raised over
$40 million in venture capital funding since its inception
in 1999.
Sphera will utilize the capital to support
and build its infrastructure in high-potential markets,
strengthen its technology portfolio, increase sales
and marketing initiatives, and increase support for
its global customers.
According to CEO Michael Gold, who took
the helm at Sphera in late July, "Sphera literally
puts profit margin back into the hosting category. By
moving quickly we can secure our market leadership position
and positively impact the future of the hosting industry.
Our customers, and investors, recognize that Sphera's
core virtualization, QoS and account-centric provisioning
technology have significant market implications and
we are now pursuing broader opportunities, including
automation of data centers of large hosting providers
and telecommunications companies."
Gold added, "Sphera's success at
raising capital from leading VCs is further validation
of our technology, products, world-class employees and
the significant market opportunity available."
"Sphera has performed in accordance
with, and in some areas exceeded our expectations to
date, a formidable achievement in today's market,"
says Edward J. McCaffrey, Chief Investment Officer of
Banc of America Capital Partners. "We are extremely
confident that the Sphera team will become a dominant
provider and will continue to achieve success and grow
in the data center automation and provisioning space."
Laurel Bowden, General Partner of JVP,
adds, "Sphera's sales momentum with larger service
provider customers and the ability of HostingBusiness
Suite to improve the Web hosting industry's profitability
model were significant enticements," Ms. Bowden
continued "Michael Gold's commitment and ability
to take the company to a position of global market leadership
strengthened our confidence in Sphera."
About Sphera
Sphera Corporation is a global leader
in Web hosting automation and management software. Sphera
provides value to over 100 hosting providers and their
resellers through service differentiation, increased
operational efficiencies, enhanced customer satisfaction
and increased profitability. Sphera's HostingBusiness
Suite(TM), which includes HostingDirector(R) and ResellerDirector(TM),
delivers immediate ROI by generating new revenue opportunities,
slashing costs and winning customer loyalty. Headquartered
in Boston, with offices in Denver, London, Tokyo, and
Tel Aviv, Israel, Sphera is backed by well-established
global venture capital firms including JVP, TLcom Capital
Partners, Gemini Israel Funds, Vision Capital and Bank
of America. For more information, visit www.sphera.com
, or call 1-866-SPHERA-1.
Sphera, HostingBusiness Suite(TM) and
HostingDirector(R) are trademarks of Sphera Corporation.
Media Contacts:
Sandra Fathi
Affect Strategies for Sphera
212-398-9680 x141
sandra@affectstrategies.com
SOURCE Sphera Corporation
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