Interwise today announced it closed $34 million in third-round private-equity financing. Interwise will use the new capital to expand worldwide sales and marketing operations, and fund continued research and development of its enterprise communications platform for live and on-demand collaboration, communications, and eLearning.
Lead investors for this round of financing are Accenture Technology Ventures in both New York and London, Lazard Technology Partners in New York and UBS Capital in London. Additional investors include GIMV in Antwerp, Belgium, Leeds Equity Partners in New York, and Jim Manzi, former chairman, president and CEO of Lotus Development Corp., who will become non-executive chairman of the Interwise board of directors.
With this investment, Interwise intends to expand beyond the traditional eLearning industry, which IDC predicts will reach $23 billion by 2004, into a new market for real-time enterprise communications. Collaborative Strategies quantifies the future global market valuation for business-oriented interactive audio, video and data communications at more than $100 billion.
"Interwise has proven sales with customers like Microsoft, Volkswagen and Berlitz, and the company's product foresight is on an order of magnitude beyond the marketplace, convincing us of their continued success," said Leonard Sherman, general partner of Accenture Technology Ventures. "We believe Interwise's vision for eLearning, business collaboration and interactive communications infrastructure, combined with the experience of its management team, will make it a clear market leader as a provider of live and on-demand collaboration, communications and eLearning solutions."
"Raising this level of funding in the current economic climate is a significant endorsement of Interwise's expertise in live eLearning and expanded collaborative communications. With this new round of funding, we will take Interwise into its next phase of growth," said Frank Zvi, president and CEO of Interwise. "Our platform makes real-time interaction over the Internet a reality so companies can make faster and more efficient, informed decisions about their products, services and business models."
Interwise also announced an agreement with Fujitsu FIP Corporation for it’s enterprise communications solution. Fujitsu FIP Corporation (Fujitsu FIP), a fully owned subsidiary of Fujitsu Limited (TSE:6702), will implement Interwise's Enterprise Communications Platform (ECP) as its communication solution. Interwise ECP was chosen to enhance Fujitsu FIP's internal communication practices, allowing for more efficient and cost-effective, live collaboration and knowledge sharing.
Through use of the Interwise ECP platform for real-time enterprise communication, business collaboration and skills training, Fujitsu FIP will leverage one of its greatest competitive advantages - maximizing the knowledge and expertise of its 2,500 highly-skilled employees. Use of the Interwise ECP will also reduce costs for Fujitsu FIP and increase operation productivity.
"Fujitsu FIP's goal was to find a solution that would improve the productivity of our highly skilled professionals and streamline our corporate business practices, which would significantly improve the effectiveness of enterprise communications," said Keiichi Kitajima, senior managing director of Fujitsu FIP Corporation. "We achieved our goal through Interwise because its ECP platform significantly enhances our enterprise-wide knowledge sharing capability through its iMeeting and iClass applications."
"We are pleased to provide Fujitsu FIP with the most effective enterprise communications and collaboration solution. The Interwise ECP, with its 5-in-1 platform, together with our world-wide server network, will provide Fujitsu FIP with the highest level of reliability and flexibility in implementation," said Zvi. "The Interwise/Fujitsu FIP relationship demonstrates that top technology companies are relying on the solutions that Interwise provides, and proves that Interwise is taking the reins in understanding the communication and eLearning needs of customers, and leading the industry into a new realm of technology and solutions."
Published by Israel's Business Arena on 29 October 2001