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Strategic Investment Led by Emergence Capital and Concentric Equity Partners; Emergence General Partner, Gordon Ritter to Join Ketera Board of Directors
Santa Clara, Calif., December 06, 2005 – Ketera Technologies, Inc., the leading provider of On Demand Spend Management solutions, today announced that it has secured $13 million in its fourth round of funding. The investment was led by Emergence Capital and Concentric Equity Partners. The deal also included follow–on investments from world class investors Kleiner, Perkins Caulfield and Byers (KPCB), Integral Capital, and Foundation Capital Partners. Ketera also announced that Gordon Ritter, General Partner of Emergence Capital, has been appointed to serve on the company′s board of directors.
According to Ketera Technologies′ Chairman and CEO Steve Savignano, the additional capital will be used to expand Ketera′s international presence and to fund additional acquisitions. Additionally, Ketera will be expanding its sales and distribution channels to meet world–wide market demand for its solutions.
Ketera′s spend management solutions help companies cut purchasing costs, streamline procurement processes, achieve higher performance from suppliers and grow their business without the expense and overhead of traditional software applications.
The additional round of funding furthers Ketera′s lead in the on demand spend management market. With over 100,000 buyer seats currently in use and more than 750,000 suppliers in the Ketera Network, Ketera expects to further expand its customer base with a stronger international presence and additional sales support to meet the ever–growing customer demand.
Emergence Capital Partners is a leading venture capital firm focused on early and growth–stage Technology–Enabled Services (TES) investing. The Emergence partners have decades of experience selling to Small and Medium Business (SMB), a critical market for many TES start–ups and one where many other VCs have limited experience.
"Ketera′s seasoned executive team has proven its strength with record growth in 2005, while adding more prestigious names to their client roster including, Delta Air Lines, Kennametal and ServiceMaster," stated Gordon Ritter. "The market is finding clear value in an on demand spend management solution. Customers understand that the exorbitant license and maintenance costs of traditional packaged software solutions are quickly becoming obsolete, positioning Ketera for explosive growth ahead."
"Emergence Capital has validated the `On Demand´ strategy with support for some of its pioneers including SalesForce.com when it was a virtually unknown company targeting the behemoth, Siebel," said Steve Savignano. "Gordon and the team at Emergence have a strong track record for picking on demand stars. We are pleased to add them to the team of world class investors who have backed Ketera."
About Ketera
Ketera is the leading provider of on demand, spend management solutions, providing companies with the applications and services needed to control and reduce corporate spending at a low cost of ownership.
Ketera Spend Management includes applications for spend analysis, sourcing, procurement and payment and reconciliation. The Ketera difference is our on demand delivery model, which combines hosted spend management applications with the "heavy lifting" services required for success, including supplier enablement, hardware infrastructure, project resources, system administration and solution upgrades.
Investors in the company include Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers and Foundation Capital. For more information about Ketera and the Ketera Spend Management suite of services, please visit www.ketera.com. |
