this just hit the wires...
best regards
amein
WILMINGTON, Del. and MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Jan 24, 2000 /PRNewswire
via COMTEX/ -- DuPont (NYSE: DD) and Chemdex(TM) Corporation (Nasdaq:
CMDX) today announced the formation of Industria Solutions, Inc., a new
business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce company that will streamline the
procurement of materials for the $75 billion worldwide fluid processing
market.
The fluid processing market includes companies from a broad range of
industries, such as chemical, oil and gas, pulp and paper, power
generation and pharmaceuticals. Products that are used in this vertical
market are complex and technical in nature, such as pipes, valves,
pumps, motors, compressors, and other materials and equipment required
for processing fluids for industrial use.
Industria will leverage the assets and expertise of its founding
companies to address supply chain inefficiencies in this market.
Chemdex brings to the new company its scalable e-commerce technology
and expertise in building and operating vertical marketplaces. DuPont,
one of the largest purchasers of maintenance and engineering materials
in the U.S., will contribute substantial buying power to Industria by
shifting procurement of these materials to Industria over time.
The company will receive initial cash funding of $30 million, including
$10 million from @Ventures, the venture capital affiliate of CMGI, Inc.
(Nasdaq: CMGI), as well as financial investments from Chemdex, DuPont
and other strategic investors. @Ventures has committed to making the
investment in Industria from the new $1 billion @Ventures B2B fund.
Industria will offer additional attractive equity investment
opportunities to major industry buyers and suppliers to quickly bring
further value to the marketplace.
IBM (NYSE: IBM) Global Services intends to enter into a strategic
relationship with Industria to provide implementation, integration and
e-commerce services to the new company's customers and suppliers. Ariba
(Nasdaq: ARBA) will provide enabling software technology to Industria.
Industria is an independent entity, with its own management team and
board of directors. Chemdex President and CEO David Perry, DuPont
Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Dennis Reilley,
and Jon Callaghan, general partner with CMGI's @Ventures, have joined
Industria's board of directors. "Industria has enormous momentum. We
have, and continue to build, a talented and seasoned management team
from leading Fortune 500 companies," said Dean Dorman, interim CEO of
Industria. "Industria employees are currently developing an initial
version of Industria's B2B e-commerce solution at our Mountain View,
California headquarters."
Using Industria's e-commerce solution, fluid-processing plants will be
able to buy materials more efficiently through a single Internet
marketplace. These materials are highly technical and require detailed
product information in order for buyers to make informed purchasing
decisions. The industry is highly fragmented, with over 2,000
manufacturers selling to over 1,000 customers in the U.S. alone.
"The formation of Industria further validates Chemdex's pioneering role
in creating the B2B vertical marketplace business model," said Jon
Callaghan of @Ventures. "As a founding backer of Chemdex, @Ventures is
pleased to extend its strategic relationship with Chemdex by becoming
Industria's founding venture capital partner through the @Ventures B2B
fund. We are confident that Industria will rapidly lead this new
marketplace with the endorsement and participation of industry leaders
such as DuPont."
Based on the combination of Chemdex's B2B e-commerce technology and
marketplace platform and DuPont's extensive industry knowledge and
value chain experience, Industria will deliver substantial value to
manufacturers, distributors and customers through advanced electronic
procurement tools like real-time pricing, electronic
requests-for-quotations (RFQs), auctions and reverse auctions.
Customers who buy through Industria will be able to access a broader,
more competitive supply base with lower product prices, as well as
benefit from increased efficiency in the procurement process.
Manufacturers will benefit from reduced marketing and selling costs,
wider customer reach with greater visibility, improved inventory
management and access to valuable information about buying trends.
Distributors will have exposure to a broader, more competitive supply
base, lower sales and marketing costs through increased efficiency, and
access to new customers.
Industria offers DuPont the opportunity to shape a new Internet
marketplace, work with a strongly branded B2B technology company with
vertical market expertise, and broaden its growing e-commerce platform.
"Industria validates our overall e-commerce strategy to quickly promote
and adopt e-business solutions," said Erik Fyrwald, vice president,
DuPont e-Commerce and business development. "By creating an open and
neutral Internet marketplace, Industria will improve efficiency in the
supply chain for DuPont and our suppliers, as well as for all buyers
and suppliers of these products. With the support of DuPont and
Chemdex, Industria is well-positioned to rapidly achieve a large market
share of the maintenance and engineering materials used in the fluid
processing industries."
For Chemdex, Industria offers the opportunity to partner with a
respected global enterprise to launch another e-commerce venture in
support of the company's multiple vertical strategy. Industria
represents Chemdex's entrance into a fourth distinct vertical market,
in addition to life sciences, specialty medical products, and
high-volume hospital supplies.
"Industria addresses a fragmented market that is primed for a
Chemdex-like solution, creating tremendous value for all participants,"
said David Perry, president and CEO of Chemdex. "The company has been
created with a fully-realized business model, proven technology, and
partners with the knowledge and experience to quickly move the fluid
processing materials supply chain online. Chemdex's marketplace
platform, experienced IT staff and expertise in developing
industry-specific B2B e-commerce solutions will help reduce Industria's
time-to-market from years to months."
"This new marketplace is a strong showcase for our e-commerce business
solutions," said Steven Kagan, vice president, IBM Global Services.
"IBM's participation in Industria as a provider of implementation and
integration services signals our overall commitment to helping
customers leverage their current investments in technology and
applications while using new Internet-based services to create a more
efficient supply chain."
"We are looking forward to expanding our strategic relationship with
Chemdex, an industry leader in creating and operating B2B vertical
marketplaces," said Keith Krach, chairman and CEO of Ariba. "This is a
great opportunity for DuPont to launch a new e-commerce venture with
Chemdex that leverages both companies' existing relationships with
Ariba. Industria will utilize Tradex software, a future part of the
Ariba platform, which will dovetail with DuPont's recently announced
global rollout of the Ariba B2B e-commerce infrastructure."
Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.
About Chemdex Chemdex Corporation is a leading provider of
business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce solutions for industry-specific
marketplaces, including life sciences, high-volume hospital supplies
and specialty medical products. As a market maker, Chemdex unites
suppliers, buyers and enterprises to streamline business processes,
enhance productivity and reduce costs. Chemdex provides complete
e-commerce solutions consisting of extensive online marketplaces,
electronic procurement to support business workflow and controls,
systems integration to interface with third-party and back-office
systems, and comprehensive services and support. For more information,
visit Chemdex at www.chemdex.com.
About DuPont DuPont is a science company, delivering science-based
solutions that make a difference in people's lives in food and
nutrition; health care; apparel; home and construction; electronics;
and transportation. Founded in 1802, the company operates in 65
countries and has 97,000 employees. For more information, visit DuPont
at www.dupont.com.
"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform
Act of 1995: Statements in this press release regarding Chemdex's
business which are not historical facts are "forward-looking
statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. These potential risks
and uncertainties could cause actual results to differ from those
contained in the forward-looking statements and include, without
limitation, Chemdex's ability to prove its business model and gain
operating efficiencies, the effects of government regulation, and its
dependence on a limited number of enterprise customers and our
relationship with VWR. These and other risk factors are described in
detail in the company's Registration Statement on Form S-1, and in the
company's other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Forward-Looking Statements: This news release contains forward-looking
statements based on DuPont management's current expectations, estimates
and projections. All statements that address expectations or
projections about the future, including statements about the company's
strategy for growth, product development, market position, expected
expenditures and financial results are forward-looking statements. Some
of the forward-looking statements may be identified by words like
"expects," "anticipates," "plans," "intends," "projects," "indicates,"
and similar expressions. These statements are not guarantees of future
performance and involve a number of risks, uncertainties and
assumptions. Many factors, including those discussed more fully
elsewhere in this release and in DuPont's filings with the Securities
and Exchange Commission, particularly its latest annual report on Form
10-K, as well as others, could cause results to differ materially from
those stated. These factors include, but are not limited to changes in
the laws, regulations, policies and economic conditions of countries in
which the company does business; competitive pressures; successful
integration of structural changes, including acquisitions, divestitures
and alliances; failure of the company or related third parties to
become Year 2000 capable; research and development of new products,
including regulatory approval and market acceptance, seasonality of
sales in its Agriculture & Nutrition segment.
SOURCE Chemdex Corporation
(C) 2000 PR Newswire. All rights reserved.
prnewswire.com
-0-
CONTACT: Brett Weiner of Schwartz Communications, 415-512-0770, or
brettw@schwartz-pr.com, for of Chemdex Corporation; or Susan Kinkead,
650-567-8949, or susank@chemdex.com, or investor, James Stewart, 650/567-7500,
or investor@chemdex.com, both of Chemdex Corporation; or Kiko Suarez of
DuPont, 302-774-0054, or juan-francisco.suarez@usa.dupont.com
WEB PAGE: dupont.com
chemdex.com
GEOGRAPHY: California
Delaware
INDUSTRY CODE: MLM
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SUBJECT CODE: JVN
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