Contact Information: Contacts: LaunchSquad for SignalDemand Brett Weiner, Monica Miller or Corey Lewis 415-625-8555 signaldemand(at)launchsquad(dot)com Ogilvy PR for InterWest Partners Jeremiah Hall 415-677-2720 jeremiah.hall(at)ogilvypr(dot)com
SignalDemand Attracts $20 Million in New Investment
Round Led by InterWest Partners With Participation by Existing Investors; Bruce Cleveland to Join Board of Directors
| Source: SignalDemand
SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire - April 16, 2008) - SignalDemand, the leader in on-demand
price and margin optimization software, announced today that it has
received a $20 million investment from a syndicate of highly regarded
venture firms led by a new investor, InterWest Partners. Existing
investors Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, General Catalyst and Catamount
Ventures also participated. SignalDemand plans to use the funds to
spearhead its expansion into new vertical and geographic markets and
further enhance its award-winning price and margin optimization offering.
SignalDemand is the world's only provider of price and margin optimization
software for manufacturers delivered through a SaaS (Software as a Service)
deployment model. Using patent-pending econometric modeling and
sophisticated pricing algorithms, SignalDemand helps large-scale
manufacturers understand how to optimize their pricing, supply utilization
and product mix. SignalDemand customers report significant margin and
profit gains from the company's acclaimed software.
"I am extremely pleased with the confidence both new and existing investors
have in our business model and recent accomplishments," commented Michael
Neal, founder and CEO of SignalDemand. "We're honored to have InterWest
Partners lead this investment and join our team, bringing with them their
extensive industry experience as we enter an exciting new growth stage.
Additionally, the increased participation from our current investors is a
strong endorsement of just how much SignalDemand has delivered on our
initial vision -- to be the global leader in price and margin optimization
software for the world's largest manufacturers."
InterWest Partners' Bruce Cleveland will join SignalDemand's board of
directors. A renowned software industry veteran, Bruce Cleveland brings
three decades of operating expertise in the software and services sector
with a focus on analytic applications and SaaS. Mr. Cleveland was one of
the original members of the Siebel Systems executive team. At Siebel, he
held numerous executive positions including SVP and GM of the OnDemand and
SMB divisions and SVP of Marketing and Alliances. In the latter role, he
is widely credited with creating the most effective alliance organization
in the enterprise software industry. Cleveland also held executive
positions in engineering and product management at Apple Computer Inc.,
Oracle Corporation and AT&T.
"SignalDemand serves a growing market need by allowing world-class
manufacturers to compete and win under often unpredictable market
conditions," Cleveland said. "SignalDemand's on-demand technology provides
manufacturers with a distinct advantage -- instant access to critical data
needed to make informed, timely and profitable decisions about pricing and
production. I'm delighted to be part of the SignalDemand team."
The new investment comes at a time of significant momentum for
SignalDemand:
* Since launching its patent-pending on-demand price optimization platform,
SignalDemand has announced customer wins in several vertical markets,
including blue-chip customer deployments in meat processing, food
manufacturing and agribusiness. Its current customers include companies
such as Cargill, Farmland Foods, Hormel, National Frozen Foods, Rich
Products, Seaboard Foods and Ventura Foods.
* In October 2007, SignalDemand announced enhanced software capabilities of
its patent-pending SignalDemand 3.0 software. Upgrades included new
analytical tools, reporting and data feeds all designed to give customers a
comprehensive view of their businesses and the markets in which they
operate, enabling margin-improving actions to be taken in real time.
Additional enhancements and new products are under active development.
* In March 2008, SignalDemand was the sole pricing vendor recognized by
Gartner, a leading analyst firm, as one of the Cool Vendors in
Manufacturing in 2008. Gartner specifically highlighted SignalDemands
on-demand platform as a key ingredient for realizing the benefits of price
and margin optimization.
About InterWest Partners
InterWest Partners (www.interwest.com), founded in 1979, is a leading
diversified venture capital firm focused on building long-term
relationships with entrepreneurs and portfolio companies. Currently
investing its ninth fund, IW IX, a $600 million fund, InterWest has raised
more than $2 billion of capital since inception. InterWest has 17 investing
partners in Menlo Park, CA and Dallas, TX, who bring together deep domain
knowledge in life sciences and information technology.
The firm's investments in information technology include: CIENA (CIEN),
Copper Mountain Networks (CMTN), Crystal Semiconductor (acquired by Cirrus
Logic, (CRUS)), Cyrix (CYRX; acquired by National Semiconductor (NSM)),
Lightera (acquired by CIENA), PlaceWare (acquired by Microsoft, (MSFT)),
SiTera (acquired by Vitesse, (VTSS)), Silicon Graphics (SGI), Stratacom
(STRM; acquired by Cisco, (CSCO)) and Xilinx (XLNX).
About SignalDemand
SignalDemand provides manufacturers with on-demand software and services to
achieve maximum profit margins in the face of volatile markets and
increasingly complex demand decisions. Using patented, comprehensive
mathematical models to process thousands of variables, SignalDemand's
technology allows customers to adjust supply and pricing on a continual
basis. By recommending best price, supply utilization and product mix in
moments, SignalDemand enables better day-to-day decision-making. Companies
such as Cargill, Farmland Foods, Hormel, National Frozen Foods, Rich
Products, Seaboard Foods and Ventura Foods rely on SignalDemand for
immediate and ongoing improvement of financial performance. For more
information, please visit www.signaldemand.com.