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NetBooks®, Inc. Closes Nearly $9 Million in Funding
NetBooks®, Inc. Closes Nearly $9 Million in Funding
Assembles Elite Team of Experts to Improve the Way Small Businesses are Managed
Rohnert Park, Calif., September 5 — NetBooks®, Inc. announced today that it had closed a $6.9 million Series A financing round from CMEA Ventures, Integral Capital, and a select group of advisors. The funding was augmented by a $2 million line of credit from Square 1 Bank, giving NetBooks ample capital as they go to market with a powerful new Web-based business management system for the True Small Business (TSB) market.
Comprised of a carefully-selected team of software veterans and small business advocates, NetBooks unites technology, people, and partners into one powerful solution for small business owners who are looking to improve the efficiency and productivity of their operations.
Founder and CEO Ridgely Evers, the man behind the original QuickBooks® and a small business owner for more than 30 years, carefully selected the company’s management, board, and advisors. This team has a rare perspective that spans big and small business, and enterprise and start-up technology, enabling them to create and deliver a solution optimized for the needs of the TSB (owner-operated firms with fewer than 50 people).
“NetBooks is a rare company: it is serving the enormous small business market with an on-demand business management system that is really simple to use,” said Jim Watson, 1992 Inc. Entrepreneur of the Year and Managing Director of CMEA Ventures, which led NetBooks' first financing round. “The combination of a large market, an outstanding team, and user-friendly software in today’s complex world will make NetBooks a very successful company.”
The NetBooks management team shares Ridgely’s passion for the small business customer, and all have close ties to small business, either directly or through their families. In addition, they draw on their experience from leading companies including Intuit, Macromedia/Adobe, Netopia, Palm, Philips, SGI, and TeleTech.
The company’s board and advisors include:
- Tom Proulx, Co-founder of Intuit, and 1992 Inc. Entrepreneur of the Year
- Janine Popick, CEO and Founder of VerticalResponse
- Scott Loftesness, Former EVP of VISA and First Data
- Ed Kozel, Yahoo! board member, and former CTO & board member at Cisco Systems
- Mark Goines, Former leader of Intuit’s Quicken business unit
“I’ve dedicated most of my career to the True Small Business, including my work on QuickBooks and my own specialty foods company, DaVero. This first-hand experience has given me a unique understanding of what small business owners require,” said Evers. “Trust is a crucial part of their decision-making process, and we take that trust very seriously. That’s why we’ve spent five years developing the product, and have assembled an experienced team of this caliber to take it to market.”
About the NetBooks Business Management System
NetBooks allows business owners to operate and control all aspects of their companies with completely integrated functionality spanning the full range of activity necessary to manage a business:
- Sales management
- Customer relationship management
- Vendor relationship management
- Production and inventory management
- Fulfillment and shipping
- Bookkeeping and reporting
All customer data is protected in a highly secure hosting facility that features bank-grade security, redundant infrastructure, and continuous data backup: a much safer environment for business-critical data than a local hard drive.
NetBooks, which goes to market today, offers a unique approach to customer support: each new customer is assigned a concierge to help owners identify all their business data and migrate into NetBooks. Interested companies can learn more at www.netbooks.com and sign up for a live online demo.
About NetBooks
NetBooks’ mission is to revolutionize the way small businesses are managed. They do this by uniting technology, people, and partners into solutions that are as simple as possible, and as powerful as necessary, to run the whole business.
Using a Software as a Service (SaaS) delivery model, NetBooks addresses the long-standing need for a comprehensive, easy-to-use business management system for America’s 5.1 million True Small Businesses (owner-operated firms with fewer than 50 people). NetBooks was developed by Ridgely Evers, the man behind the original QuickBooks. The privately held company, based in Rohnert Park, California, is funded by CMEA Ventures, Integral Capital, and select advisors. www.netbooks.com.
About CMEA Ventures
CMEA Ventures is a venture capital firm focused on life sciences, high technology, and energy & materials investments. CMEA believes that the most successful venture backed companies are science focused with experienced teams intent on winning. As a result, CMEA's portfolio companies typically have cutting edge and highly differentiated technology at their core, with founding teams of the highest caliber. CMEA invests in both early and late stage ventures, and has a strong network of corporate, investment, and entrepreneurial relationships that it leverages on behalf of its portfolio companies. The firm currently manages six funds representing investments in excess of $1 billion. CMEA has been an early stage investor in many leading Silicon Valley high technology companies, including Flextronics (FLEX), Magma (LAVA), Maxygen (MAXY), Monogram Biosciences (MGRM), Silicon Spice (BRCM), Symyx (SMMX), and Syrrx (purchased by Takeda.) CMEA Ventures was founded in 1989 and maintains offices in San Francisco and Menlo Park. CMEA’s partners and associates have extensive science, engineering, and operational backgrounds that particularly suit CMEA's focus on technology and teams — an effective differentiator for entrepreneurs and venture investment partners who dare to change the world, one great company at a time.
About Integral Capital Partners
Integral Capital Partners is a family of private investment partnerships which invest in the securities of expansion stage private companies and growth stage public companies in the information and life sciences industries. Integral was launched in 1991 by Roger McNamee and John Powell in collaboration with the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and the investment banking firm of Morgan Stanley & Co. Integral has invested in a wide array of information technology and life sciences companies including software companies such as Agile Software, E.piphany, Informatica, Interwoven, and Vitria. The firm has offices in Menlo Park, CA and San Francisco, CA. www.integralcapital.com.
About Square 1 Bank