Investment Will Enable Company to Extend Leadership Position in Business Process Mobilization Solutions; Funding Amount Highlights Market Opportunity
NEWTOWN, PA, February 20, 2007—AirClic®, a leading provider of business process mobilization solutions that include data capture, flexible application configuration, and complete GPS capabilities, today announced that it has closed $12.5 million in venture capital financing. The investment was led by JMI Equity along with original investors Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) and Zon Capital Partners. The investment proceeds will be used to capitalize upon AirClic's strong growth and momentum in 2006 as well as to expand the areas of marketing, sales, customer support, and product development.
"There was a lot of interest from the venture capital community in AirClic, which is further evidence that companies are realizing the need to mobilize their business processes. AirClic is the only company that can provide an easy-to-use, cost-effective solution that answers that need," said Tim Bradley, CEO, AirClic. "AirClic has grown exponentially over the last two years and this investment will help us capitalize on that growth to expand even further in 2007, better serve our customer base, and expand our solutions portfolio."
AirClic sits at the nexus of the business process mobilization industry, which fits hand-in-hand with the growing need for field service management, a market estimated to be more than a billion dollars with an annual growth rate of 10 percent, according to Redmond Capital. Industry analysts predict 2007 to be a year where business process mobilization technologies will continue to emerge and broaden as user need intensifies.
Some key research trends include:
Venture Capital Raised Reinforces AirClic Market Potential
According to PricewaterhouseCoopers/National Venture Capital Association MoneyTree report, venture capitalists invested $25.5 billion in 3,416 deals in 2006 resulting in an average deal size of approximately $5.78 million. Therefore, the $12.5 million investment in AirClic more than doubles the average for funding in the software sector in 2006, indicative of the company's leadership in the industry.
This round of funding caps off another successful year for AirClic, including the following achievements as compared to 2005:
"AirClic's impressive growth rate over the past year combined with its strong management team and vision for enabling organizations to have the real-time insight into their mobile business processes drove us to invest in AirClic's future success," said Bob Smith, General Partner, JMI Equity. "AirClic has a loyal customer base that has seen great results from implementing their solutions, and I have no doubt the company will continue to lead this market in 2007 and beyond."
1. Source: Gartner, Inc.: "CIO Survey Shows the Continuing Importance of Mobile Applications, October 30, 2006.
2. Source: Gartner, Inc.: "Mobile Collaboration Will Be Driven by Consumer Technologies and Behaviors," December 2006.
3. Source: Aberdeen Group: "Location. Location. Location. Does it Matter in Field Service?" September 2006.
4. Source: Ventana Research: "Location Intelligence Technology Trends and Strategies," September 2006.
5. Source: Gartner, Inc.: "Definition of 'Mobile Workforce.'" November 17, 2006.
JMI Equity, based in Baltimore and San Diego, is a private equity firm exclusively focused on providing growth capital to software and service companies. Founded in 1992, JMI has invested in more than 80 companies throughout North America and has approximately $700 million of capital under management. In addition to providing the first institutional capital to self-funded companies, JMI also invests in selected recapitalization and management buyout financings. Representative investments include Blackbaud, Inc. (Nasdaq: BLKB), DoubleClick, Inc., Jackson Hewitt, Inc. (NYSE: JTX), Mission Critical Software, Inc. (acquired by NetIQ, Inc. (Nasdaq: NTIQ)), NEON Systems, Inc. (acquired by Progress Software Corporation (Nasdaq: PRGS)), Transaction Systems Architects, Inc. (Nasdaq: TSAI) and Unica Corporation (Nasdaq: UNCA). For more information on JMI Equity, visit www.jmiequity.com.
Headquartered in Newtown, PA, AirClic is a leading provider of mobile business process solutions that offer organizations real-time visibility to the "who, what, where, when and why" of their entire field operations. Using AirClic-enabled wireless devices, managers and workers can easily and economically capture, exchange and access critical data that represent people, assets and activity. With its unsurpassed user-adoption rate, AirClic is driving new levels of accountability and improved customer service for many of the world’s leading companies.
AirClic is a registered trademark and AirClic MP is a trademark of AirClic, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are property of their respective holders.
For more information, contact:
AirClic
Matt Matsui
651-222-9791
matt.matsui@airclic.com
Lois Paul & Partners
Jolene Hajj
781-782-5849
jolene_hajj@lpp.com