nQuire Software Raises $6.5 Million To Create A New Generation
Of Enterprise Decision-Making Software For The Internet Era
ACTION ITEMS
nQuire Software, Inc. has announced its recent completion of a $6.5 million round of financing with leading technology investors and venture capital firms from the Silicon Valley and Minnesota. Investors include RWI Group, Donald L. Lucas, St. Paul Venture Capital, Telos Venture Partners, Doll Capital Management and the law firm of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati. nQuire Software was founded by Larry Barbetta, its chief executive officer and president, in August 1997, to create a new generation of enterprise decision-making software products for the Internet era. Detailed product and company information remains confidential at this time, with specific announcements expected upon product availability in the next several months.
Barbetta has spent his entire career building and growing leading companies in the decision support/data warehousing software market. He is noted within the industry for his product vision and business execution skills with demonstrated successes in both start-up and large company environments. Prior to nQuire, Barbetta was the senior vice president of Business Intelligence, one of the five business units of Platinum Technology, Inc. -- the world's 10th largest software company. He joined Platinum as part of the acquisition of Prodea Software which he founded and served as president and CEO. In 1994, Inc. Magazine ranked Prodea Software, a leading provider of relational OLAP (On-line Analytical Processing) software, as one of the fastest growing private companies in the U.S.
Prior to Prodea, Barbetta was a member of the pre-financing startup team of Decision Support Services, Inc., which was acquired by Metaphor Computer Systems (and later acquired by IBM). Barbetta also recently served as chairman of the OLAP Council, a non-profit consortium of leading companies involved in the OLAP marketplace including Cognos, IBM, Oracle, Hyperion Solutions, Sun Microsystems, Business Objects and Platinum Technology.
Since its founding in 1997, nQuire has quietly assembled a world-class group of senior engineers, architects and development managers who have played critical roles in creating some of the most successful and innovative decision support, data warehousing, Internet and enterprise software products on the market. These team members were instrumental in the product developments for leading companies such as Cognos, Entrust Technologies, IBM Santa Teresa Labs, Informix, NCR Teradata, Platinum Technology, Red Brick, Sybase, Tandem and Verity.
The Market Opportunity
The market opportunity for a new generation of decision-making products for the Internet era is growing rapidly. Merrill Lynch & Co., in a report issued late last year, predicted that the business intelligence and data warehousing segments of the enterprise information portal (EIP) market would exceed $10.1 billion by 2002.
"There is clearly an untapped opportunity in the market to deliver advanced decision-making systems via the Web," said Don L. Lucas, one of nQuire's investors. "We made our investment in nQuire based on both the team's track record of building winning products and successful companies, and the new approach they have taken with technology."
About nQuire's Investors
RWI Group, the lead investor in this financing, is led by general partner Donald A. Lucas a second-generation venture capitalist with over 15 years of experience. Leveraging earlier investment successes, RWI was formed and now focuses on emerging Internet, enterprise software and telecommunications companies with recent investments including I-Ready, Preview Systems, Extricity, and SLP Infoware
St. Paul Venture Capital is one of the ten largest venture firms in the country. With over $1.5 billion of venture capital invested since 1988, some of the firm's technology investments have included WebTV (acquired by Microsoft), Advanced Fibre Communications and NetPerceptions.
Don L. Lucas is regarded as one of the pioneers of the venture capital industry. In 1960, Mr. Lucas began a seven-year participation as both a general partner and a limited partner with Draper, Gaither & Anderson, the first venture capital firm organized on the West Coast. He has had many venture capital successes, including Cadence Design Systems, Macromedia and Oracle Corporation.
Telos Venture Partners is the venture investment arm of one of high-technology's most innovative and technically astute companies, Cadence Design Systems (the market leader in software and services for the design of integrated circuits and electronic systems with approximately $1 billion in annual revenues). Telos invests in high-growth software companies that exploit the Internet computing model in serving consumers or businesses and also invests in companies serving the semiconductor and communications markets.
Doll Capital Management, headed by the renowned venture capitalist, Dixon Doll, invests in early stage companies that leverage networking, telecommunications or the Internet. Doll Capital's funds have been raised from well known strategic American and Asian investors including 3COM, Itochu and LG Group. Some of Doll Capital's noteworthy investments include Miningco.com, iOwn.com (formerly Homeshark) and SNAP Technologies/CollegeEdge.
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati is one of the country's leading high-technology law firms. Their clients are entrepreneurs and managers who are helping to build some of the world's most exciting and significant companies in the technology, life sciences and consumer products industries.
About nQuire Software, Inc.
nQuire Software, Inc., founded in 1997, is privately held with offices in San Mateo, CA and Minnetonka, MN. nQuire is dedicated to providing a new generation of enterprise decision-making software for the Internet era. Further details about the company and products are expected to become available in the next several months.