MessageMedia Closes $42 Million Strategic Financing
Financing Led by New Investor Van Wagoner Capital Management
BOULDER, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 25, 1999-- MessageMedia Inc. (Nasdaq: MESG), a leading provider of e-mail-based customer relationship management and direct marketing services, today announced that it has closed a private placement of approximately 4.095 million shares of its common stock for $41.975 million.
Investors include the Company's existing strategic partners, SOFTBANK Venture Capital and Pequot Private Equity Funds, along with Van Wagoner Capital Management, Essex Investment Management Company, Kingdon Capital Management, Pogue Capital Management and other institutional investment groups. Robertson Stephens acted as placement agent for the stock.
''We believe that e-messaging is one of the driving factors in the growth of online commerce and permission-based online marketing techniques,'' said Rick Juarez, senior e-commerce infrastructure services analyst at Robertson Stephens. ''MessageMedia has assembled an integrated suite of products and services which helps customers optimize relationships with their target audiences. The company's recent impressive customer wins, such as Reader's Digest, bode well for their future growth and financial outlook.''
This institutional placement is part of an initiative begun in July of 1999 to increase corporate visibility among both institutional investors and research analysts in the financial community. The funding follows the recent appointment of Tork Johnson as Chief Financial Officer at MessageMedia.
Larry Jones, president and chief executive officer of MessageMedia, stated: ''We welcome these new institutional investors to MessageMedia. We think this underscores the huge growth opportunity in front of MessageMedia and the industry, and most importantly our ability to successfully execute our growth plan. The company now has the added financial flexibility to further broaden our robust suite of scalable e-messaging offerings, speed our geographic expansion and support our aggressive acquisition activities.''
Mr. Jones continued, ''More and more blue chip and dot-com companies are turning to MessageMedia because we have developed the industry's most effective and efficient customer relationship building infrastructure utilizing e-messaging. MessageMedia is helping companies turn raw purchase and customer inquiry data into customer intelligence. Companies are using the power e-messaging provides to build deeper customer relationships and increase sales.''
''The participants in this round of financing recognize the growth opportunity in customer relationship management tools based on e-messaging,'' said Bradley Feld, co-chairman of MessageMedia. ''We are pleased that they have chosen to invest in our Company, and we welcome them to this exciting arena.''
The common stock issued in the private placement is not registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from registration requirements. As part of the private placement, the Company has agreed to file a Form S-3 Registration Statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission relating to the resale of the common stock issued in the completed private placement.
About MessageMedia Inc.
MessageMedia (Nasdaq: MESG) is a leading provider of e-mail-based customer relationship management and direct marketing services. The Company offers a comprehensive suite of outsource messaging services for information delivery, e-commerce services, permission-based direct marketing, ongoing customer communications and real-time customer feedback solutions using industry standard Internet protocols. MessageMedia's customer portfolio includes clients from the financial services, publishing, direct marketing, retailing, software and electronic commerce industries. Clients include E*TRADE, AOL, Apple, Yahoo!, Microsoft, GeoCities, Intuit, CMP Media, Barclays Bank, EDS, CNBC, Universal Studios and Bertelsmann.
Investors in MessageMedia include SOFTBANK and its affiliates, which constitute the world's largest investors in the Internet, and Pequot Capital Management, a Connecticut-based research-intensive investment firm. For more information visit messagemedia.com.
About SOFTBANK Venture Capital
SOFTBANK Venture Capital (SOFTBANK VC) manages venture capital funds focused primarily on early-stage Internet companies. SOFTBANK VC's technology fund directors are all experienced technology leaders with prior operating experience as founders of early-stage companies, senior managers of major technology corporations, and leaders in investment banking. SOFTBANK VC's past and current portfolios include public Internet companies such as Critical Path, E-LOAN, GeoCities, Interliant, MessageMedia, Net2Phone, and TheStreet.com.
About SOFTBANK Corporation
SOFTBANK Venture Capital is an affiliate of SOFTBANK Corporation, the world's leading Internet investor. Through its ownership positions in over 100 Internet companies and its unique Internet-zaibatsu (NETBatsu) management concept, SOFTBANK Corporation creates market synergies for its family of companies on a global scale. SOFTBANK Corporation is the largest shareholder in leading Internet companies such as Yahoo!, E*TRADE and ZDNet, and has launched more than ten Japanese joint ventures with U.S.-based Internet companies such as Cisco Systems, Yahoo!, E*TRADE, GeoCities, CarPoint, and OnSale. SOFTBANK Corporation and its affiliated funds, SOFTBANK Venture Capital and SOFTBANK Capital Partners, and its international partners, News Corporation and Vivendi, will back a company from seed stage to global presence. For more information, visit sbvc.com or softbank.com.
About Pequot Private Equity
The Pequot Private Equity Funds are the private placement/direct investment arm of Pequot Capital Management, Inc. The Pequot Private Equity Funds invest in public and private companies in information technology, telecommunications and healthcare. The Pequot Venture Fund invests in seed and early stage technology companies. Pequot Capital Management, Inc. is a research-intensive investment firm with more than $6 billion in assets under management. Pequot Capital, which is 100 percent employee-owned, is headquartered in Westport, Connecticut, with offices in New York City and San Francisco. For additional information visit pequotcap.com
About Van Wagoner Capital Management
Founded in 1995 by Garrett Van Wagoner, Van Wagoner Capital Management, Inc. had $786 million under management as of June 30, 1999. The company's Post-Venture Fund was recently ranked No. 1 of all small-cap funds since inception by Lipper Analytical Services. The company's Micro-Cap Fund was ranked No. 1 of all Micro-cap funds for the 1-year period by Lipper Analytical Services. The Company's Emerging Growth Fund was ranked in the top 2% of all small-cap funds since inception by Lipper Analytical Services. For more information visit vanwagoner.com.
About Robertson Stephens
Robertson Stephens is the leading full-service investment bank focused exclusively on growth companies. To date in 1999, the firm has completed over 130 public offerings and over 30 private offerings, raising more than $26 billion in capital for clients. The firm's 47 research analysts cover nearly 700 companies. Founded in 1978, Robertson Stephens is a Section 20 subsidiary of Fleet Boston Corporation (NYSE: FLT) and a member of the NASD and all major exchanges. Together, Robertson Stephens, BancBoston Robertson Stephens International Ltd., and Robertson Stephens Evergreen Securities Ltd. employ over 1,000 employees with offices in Boston, San Francisco, New York, Menlo Park, Chicago, London, and Tel Aviv. For more information about the firm, please visit our Web site at www.rsco.com.
''Safe Harbor'' Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. With the exception of the historical information contained in this release, the matters described herein contain forward-looking statements that involve risk and uncertainties. These risk factors include, but are not limited to, the integration of a new senior management team, MessageMedia's limited operating history, the integration of recent acquisitions, risks associated with future acquisitions, the anticipated fluctuations in operating results, the uncertain acceptance of new services being offered, and undeveloped and rapidly changing market and other factors detailed in MessageMedia's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 1998 and its most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and Current Report on Form 8-K/A. All companies and product names are trademarks of their respective owners. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. MessageMedia undertakes no obligation to release publicly the result of any revisions to these forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
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Contact:
MessageMedia Inc.
(investors)
Tork Johnson, Chief Financial Officer, 303/381-7500
mailto:tork@messagemedia.com
or
(media)
The Ruth Group, Inc.
Stefanie King, Senior Vice President, 917/639-4110
slking@theruthgroup.com
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