POPM article here. It sure looks to me like there has been a seller for a while, but late today was encouraging again, with a decent close.
dbusiness.com
C Inc. gets boost from PopMail.com
Aug 10, 2000 07:55 AM ET
By Cynthia L. Webb, dbusiness.com
EXCLUSIVE ARLINGTON, Va., Aug. 10 (dbusiness.com) -- NC Inc., which provides an online calendar application
and city-specific event information to Websites and wireless devices, has secured investments toward a third round of funding from PopMail.com Inc. and a Mid-Atlantic venture capital firm.
Chief Executive Officer Edward L. Neumann told dbusiness.com on Wednesday the $2 million deal with Irving, Texas-based PopMail.com, an e-mail marketing services company, was closed late Tuesday after months of negotiations.
PopMail agreed to make a cash and equity investment, which gives the company a minority stake in Arlington, Va.-based NC, Neumann said. PopMail will invest $1 million initially in equity that can be converted into cash and another million in cash for future financing.
NC already has raised $1.4 million from New Horizons Venture Capital of Arlington, Va., and additional funds from a handful of individual and angel investors as part of the ongoing round.
Neumann said PopMail has an option of increasing the size of its ownership, but will not gain a seat on the privately held company's board of directors.
"The two companies are very strategically synergistic. They provide a content-driven e-mail product and we provide comprehensive local content, so it makes a lot of sense for the two companies to work together," Neumann said.
The CEO said the money would be used primarily for product expansion and development.
Gary Schneider, PopMail's chief executive officer, told dbusiness.com that executives met in April and thought
the companies would complement each other. He considers PopMail to be "a small investor at this time" in NC,
holding less than a 10 percent stake in the company.
NC Inc., which changed its name from NetCalendar Inc. in June, aims to close a third round of funding totaling
$5 million by the end of summer, Neumann said. The company raised $500,000 in a first round and $1.4 million in a second round.
PopMail.com (Nasdaq: POPM), with additional offices in Bloomington, Minn., San Francisco and Seattle, sells permission-based e-mail marketing services to customers involved in sports, broadcast and other media and
entertainment industries. The company's PopMail allows companies to provide free e-mail from their Websites.
T.J. Jubeir, New Horizons managing partner and a NC board member, said his company invested $1 million in October and another $400,000 in February to go toward the latest funding round.
"I think [the investment] will further stretch the reach of the company. I think it's a very valuable partnership,"
the venture capitalist said. "The equity investment ... is really a cementing of the relationship."
NC has a calendar application service product called the Daily Drill. The online calendar is free to users and the
tool is licensed to Websites, portals and wireless services. Users can track their appointments and local events.
The company has 60 co-branded calendars, including deals with UCLA and Princeton, Neumann said.
The company also offers a local events product called Your Local Buzz. It is licensed to Web and portal sites, e-mail companies and wireless services to provide location-specific events content, such as wine tasting tours or concert information. It covers 150 cities and offers 55 theme-specific categories.
Last week, NC launched a product called MobileBuzz, which provides wireless access to Your Local Buzz content. The product is targeted toward Web-ready or Internet-accessible cell phones and hand-held devices, and is licensed to NC customers. Two undisclosed clients have signed up and about 50 deals are in the works, Neumann said.
Before PopMail's investment, the two companies already were business partners. PopMail signed a deal with NC in May to license its local event content. NC uses PopMail's e-mail service for its co-branded calendars. NC inked a similar deal with LifeMinders Inc., a Herndon, Va. permission-based marketing and e-mail company that reminds users of birthdays and other events.
Schneider said PopMail eventually could use NC's content in its e-mail services for NBA teams to provide event information in certain cities. Its clients include hockey's Dallas Stars, the San Antonio Spurs, Disney and NBC.
Despite PopMail acquisitions, the company's stock has witnessed a rocky performance.
Shares of PopMail.com closed Tuesday at 81 cents. The stock has hit a 52-week high of $7.13 and a low of 66 cents. There are about 36.4 million of the company's shares outstanding, providing a market capitalization of $29.5 million.
Schneider said the company might invest in NC again, but it would likely be a small investment. PopMail is not looking to acquire NC, but such discussions could happen "down the road," he said. For now, the companies will work strategically.
"We saw a good fit with just using their services and they have a need to use our service," the CEO said.
Cynthia Webb covers the DC Metro region for dbusiness.com. E-mail her with story ideas or comments. |
