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ViaFone Raises More Than $10 Million in First Round Financing; Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Partech International, and Prominent Angel and Industry Investors Back Mobile Commerce ASP
Business Wire - March 13, 2000 12:18
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 13, 2000--(PC Forum) - ViaFone (www.viafone.com), the leading application service provider (ASP) for mobile commerce, today announced first-round financing of $10.7 million. The round was co-led by Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Partech International, with additional investments from Angel Investors, L.P., Draper Richards, and several prominent angel investors.
Founded in September 1999 by veterans of NetObjects (Nasdaq: NETO) and Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM), ViaFone allows online merchants to seamlessly `mobilize' their existing e-commerce infrastructure, enabling consumers to purchase anything via the Internet anytime, anywhere from any wireless device, including cellular telephones, `smart' digital phones and connected PDAs.
As a result of this financing round, Raj Atluru, partner at Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and Vincent Worms, founding partner of Partech International, join the board of directors of ViaFone, which also includes Bernard Desarnauts and Josh Stein, co-founders of ViaFone.
"Within five years, mobile commerce will be as ubiquitous as the cellular telephone itself is today," said Raj Atluru, partner at Draper Fisher Jurvetson, a leading venture capital firm with more than $1 billion under management. "ViaFone is a key enabler for mobile commerce and is clearly positioned with a must-have offering for online merchants."
"The wireless Internet is in its infancy, much like the Internet itself was in 1994," said Vincent Worms, founding partner at Partech International. "The ViaFone team has identified a critical pain-point for online merchants and has the vision and experience to become a leader in this emerging mobile commerce market."
Angel investors in ViaFone include top executives and entrepreneurs from successful Internet companies, including Matthew Barzun, chief strategy officer at CNET; Andrew Beebe, founder of BigStep.com; Bill Bryant, founder of Qpass; Jim Dwyer, founder and CEO of WirelessOne; Randall Kaplan, founder of Akamai (NASDAQ: AKAM); Thomas Layton, founder and CEO of CitySearch; Larry Mohr, founder of Mohr Davidow Ventures; Marc Randolph, founder of NetFlix; Naval Ravikant, founder of Epinions.com; Steve Rehmus, former Goldman, Sachs & Company executive and current Internet start-up advisor; and Jody Sherman, CEO and president of Comedy World.
The ViaFone Management Team
ViaFone boasts a seasoned executive team with experience in wireless communications, e-commerce and Web development. Key members of the management team include:
- Bernard Desarnauts, founder, acting CEO and vice-president of marketing, previously vice-president of products at NetObjects;
- Daniel Claxton, chief technology officer and inventor of the Qualcomm pdQ phone, Qualcomm's first CDMA smart phone;
- Josh Stein, founder and vice-president of business development, former co-founder of BizKnowledge and marketing executive at NetObjects;
- Fernando Ruarte, founder and vice-president of engineering, former vice-president of server engineering at NetObjects;
- Francois Granade, founder and director of engineering, former director of server architecture at NetObjects.
About ViaFone
ViaFone is the leading ASP for mobile commerce, allowing online merchants to seamlessly `mobilize' their existing e-commerce infrastructure and enabling consumers to purchase anything via the Internet anytime, anywhere from any wireless device. Founded in September 1999, ViaFone is based in Redwood Shores, California and is backed by venture capitalists Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Partech International, Angel Investors, L.P. and others. To learn more, visit ViaFone's Web site at www.viafone.com.
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