Back to Core Home

news

latest news news archive events tom's tmcnet articles
LP log-in
aboutteamportfolionewscontact

[ latest news ]

12.4.07Core Capital invests in $20M round for NextPoint

11.13.07Core Capital Invests in Leading Predictive Analytics Provider, Valen Technologies

11.6.07Core Capital Invests in Security Innovator, V.i. Labs

10.24.07Core Capital Invests in Enterprise Mashup Innovator, JackBe

5.29.07Core Capital Partners Invests In Mobile Content Publisher LimeLife

3.13.07Core Capital Leads $6M Round For FreedomPay, Inc.

1.31.07Core Capital Leads Series A Round For 6th Sense Analytics


Core Capital invests in $20M round for NextPoint

New Company Formed by Recently Announced Merger of NexTone Communications, Inc. and Reef Point Systems, Inc. Will Use Investment for Continued Growth

Washington, D.C. (December 4, 2007) - Core Capital Partners, a venture capital firm that has invested in a number communications infrastructure companies particularly focused on the IP and VoIP, announced its participation in a $20 million round of funding for Gaithersburg, MD-based NextPoint™ Networks, Inc. NextPoint will be the result of the recently announced merger between NexTone Communications Inc., a software-centric session border controller and session management provider, and Reef Point Systems, Inc., a mobile access universal convergence gateway provider. NextPoint will use the recent investment to support the merger and continue its strong growth. In addition to Core Capital, other investors in this round include the round lead investor, One Equity Partners, the private equity arm of JP Morgan Chase (NYSE: JPM), as well as American Capital Strategies (NASDAQ: ACAS), Jerusalem Venture Partners, Safeguard Scientifics (NYSE: SFE) and Summerhill Venture Partners.

“NextPoint has incredible potential due to its unprecedented ability to support the IP network evolution and migration plans at both the access and peering points of both mobile and fixed-network providers,” said Pascal Luck, a managing director with Core Capital Partners. “NextPoint provides mobile and fixed-network operators around the world the ability to quickly, securely and profitably deliver voice, data and video services over all IP networks. With the strong, experienced leadership of newly appointed CEO Woody Ritchey, NextPoint is well-positioned for accelerated growth in the emerging fixed-mobile convergence marketplace.”

“Core Capital’s continued support of NexTone through its merger with Reef Point demonstrates the promise of our Integrated Border Gateway solution, which creates significant efficiencies for operators and architects of fixed, mobile and converged networks around the globe,” said Woody Ritchey, chief executive officer of NextPoint. “The IBG will support the acceleration of IP convergence and streamline the design of fixed, mobile and converged networks.”

Core Capital was an early investor in NexTone and has continued to support and provide leadership to the company through participation in its successive rounds of financing and growth. When Core Capital initially invested in the company in 2002, NexTone was just beginning to ship its first product to a few customers. Today, the company has a growing global footprint of more than 550 global service providers.

NextPoint simplifies the deployment of fixed and mobile network connectivity, accelerates the delivery of new services to subscribers and offers high levels of security. Its customers include tier-one mobile operators located all over the globe.

About NextPoint
NextPoint Networks (www.nextpointnetworks.com) is being formed by the merger of NexTone and Reef Point, to deliver global, fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) border platforms and secure interconnectivity solutions. NextPoint's technology platform, products and solution suites will enable mobile and fixed line operators to deliver secure voice, data and multimedia over a scalable platform, interoperating with both fixed-line and mobile network technologies and operating systems. 550 service providers and enterprises worldwide will use NextPoint’s IntelliConnect system to manage technical complexities, optimize business economics, and remove partnership hurdles. NexTone (www.nextone.com) and Reef Point (www.reefpoint.com) signed definitive agreements December 2, 2007, and the transaction is expected to close in early January, so the companies can enter 2008 as one company.


arrow up

Core Capital Invests in Leading Predictive Analytics Provider, Valen Technologies

Washington, D.C. (November 13, 2007) - Core Capital Partners, a venture capital firm that invests in a wide range of innovative businesses including information and network security, and enterprise software companies, announced its participation in a $6.5 million, Series C funding for Denver-based Valen Technologies, the predictive analytics experts for the property and casualty (P&C) insurance industry. The new funding will be used to support the company’s aggressive growth strategy designed to take advantage of ever-increasing market demand for better predictive analytics for insurance companies of all sizes. The funding will also be used for expansions in engineering, professional services and channel development.

“Two of the top ten insurance companies have already signed onto Valen’s innovative technology that allows insurers to better match price and risk for insurance policies,” said Mark Levine, a managing director with Core Capital Partners. “The potential market growth in this industry is tremendous. We have confidence in Valen’s high customer sign-on rate and its ability to continue to win clients that need advanced predictive analytics.”

“We think Core Capital is a perfect match for us because of their vast experience in analytics products like ours,” said Dax Craig, president and CEO of Valen Technologies. “Over the past year, we have seen a robust adoption rate of our predictive analytics tool as the industry begins to experience its enormous benefits.”

During the last quarter, Valen has closed two major channel deals, acquired one of the world’s largest insurers and added numerous small and medium sized companies to its client portfolio.

Valen’s predictive analytics encompasses a four-step process that highlights critical information often overlooked by insurance carriers. The company’s offering provides the insurance industry with a comprehensive solution for scoring, screening and pricing risk more accurately thereby lowering costs for carriers.

About Valen Technologies, Inc.
Valen Technologies is the expert in predictive analytics for the property and casualty insurance industry, offering highly automated predictive analytics solutions to create and deploy predictive models. Valen helps its customers improve decision making by using predictive analytics in the decision process. To learn more about predictive modeling and Valen Technologies, visit www.valentechnologies.com or call 800-280-3304.


arrow up

Core Capital Invests in Security Innovator, V.i. Labs

Washington, D.C. (November 6, 2007) - Core Capital Partners, a venture capital firm that invests in a wide range of innovative businesses including information and network security, and enterprise software companies, announced its participation in a $8 million, Series B round funding for Boston-based V.i. Laboratories, Inc. (“V.i. Labs”), a provider of software protection solutions for securing high-value and mission critical applications. The recent funding, which also included Ascent Venture Partners of Boston and other existing investors, will help the company recruit engineering staff, and expand sales and marketing efforts.

“Most software offers minimal protection against intellectual property theft, code cracking and reverse-engineering,” explained Pascal Luck, a managing director at Core Capital Partners. “We invested in V.i. Labs because its CodeArmor ™ offers comprehensive protection against security threats of all levels, and safeguards applications running on Microsoft’s Windows and .NET platforms.”

“Core Capital Partners has vast experience in the security industry and will be able to support us as we ramp up operations and continue to improve on our innovative solutions,” said Joe Noonan, CEO and president of V.i. Labs. “We are thankful for the vote of confidence that this next round of financial backing from Core Capital and our investors demonstrates. Their support clearly reinforces our ability to lead the software security industry.”

V.i. Labs is the first company to offer a commercial product that can simplify and automate the process of embedding comprehensive protection capabilities within a wide variety of native Microsoft Windows™ and Microsoft .NET applications. Markets ideally suited for application protection provided by V.I. Labs’ CodeArmor™ include independent software vendors, embedded systems and application providers, Internet gaming, government and any corporation that wishes to protect its intellectual property from the threats of piracy.

V.i. Labs has acquired customers globally in the financial, government and information services sectors.

About V.i. Laboratories
V.i. Labs provides software protection solutions that protect against the misappropriation and theft of intellectual property resident in software applications. Through V.i. Labs’ patent-pending technology, software vendors, embedded system providers, enterprise organizations and government agencies are able to easily secure their software against the threat of piracy, tampering and theft, independent of where the applications are distributed. V.i. Labs is privately held and is headquartered in Waltham, Mass. For more information please visit http://www.vilabs.com.


arrow up

Core Capital Invests in Enterprise Mashup Innovator, JackBe

Washington, D.C. (October 24, 2007) - Core Capital Partners, a venture capital firm that invests in a wide range of technology companies, announced its participation in a $9.5 million, Series C round for Chevy Chase, Maryland-based JackBe, the leading provider of enterprise mashup software. The new funding, which also included Harbert Venture Partners and other existing investors, will help the company expand sales and marketing and continue product development of its Presto enterprise mashup platform.

“Enterprises have spent millions of dollars developing service oriented architectures (SOA), portals, and enterprise applications, and JackBe’s enterprise mashup software can greatly improve the return-on-investment on these critical technologies,” explained Pascal Luck, managing director at Core Capital Partners. “JackBe’s enterprise server products make information access easier from SOAs, portals, and other enterprise applications.”

“Core Capital Partners has an excellent track record of investing in and successfully building innovative companies that develop market changing technologies,” said JackBe CEO, Luis Derechin. “Analysts predict mashup software will transform the Web 2.0 space, and we believe Core Capital’s expertise will help us take advantage of the market potential and reach enterprises that want to increase productivity through enterprise mashups.”

JackBe has already acquired customers globally in the financial, government, and information services sectors. Clients include Citigroup, Tupperware, Sears, NutriSystem, Forbes, and the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency.

JackBe’s Presto enterprise mashup platform enables end users to experience self-service data access, situational integration, and enterprise-grade mashups to make more effective decisions and independently complete daily tasks. The company is currently offering a trial download of Presto at http://www.jackbe.com.

About JackBe
JackBe leads the Enterprise Web 2.0 revolution with innovative enterprise mashup software that delivers on the promise of business user empowerment. JackBe has created Presto, a family of products for enterprise mashup solutions that combines SOA and Ajax into enterprise mashups and rich Internet applications. Presto can deliver any data from any application to any user while meeting the toughest security and governance requirements. For more information, visit http://www.jackbe.com.


arrow up

Core Capital Partners Invests in Mobile Content Publisher LimeLife

Tom Wheeler Joins Board of Directors

Washington, D.C. (May 29, 2007) - Core Capital Partners, a leading, Washington, D.C.-based, venture capital firm, announced today its investment in Menlo Park, Calif.-based LimeLife Inc., the only mobile consumer software publisher focused exclusively on content for women. The investment of $3.9 million will be used to continue the company’s development of best-in-class mobile software products and technologies.

On May 23, LimeLife and AT&T announced that they had launched "Rachael Ray™ Recipes on the Run" featuring 30-minute recipes from celebrity cook and Emmy-nominated daytime host Rachael Ray. Rachael Ray joins other brand-name media such as Time, Inc.’s In Style magazine as exclusive content sources for LimeLife. The company will shortly announce additional instantly recognizable women-oriented content to its lineup.

"LimeLife combines innovative mobile technology with a unique understanding of the female consumer to create a new model for targeted programming," says Tom Wheeler, managing director at Core Capital Partners. "We believe that targeted mobile content represents an extension of the same concept which made cable television so successful." Wheeler, who is the former President and CEO of the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association (CTIA) and the former President of the National Cable Television Association (NCTA), will join the LimeLife Board of Directors.

"We are thrilled to have Core Capital as an investor and to have Tom Wheeler join our Board of Directors," says Kristin McDonnell, CEO, LimeLife. "Their deep media and wireless communications expertise will be an enormous asset to us as LimeLife continues to launch high-profile mobile products to serve the female market."

Core has successfully invested in numerous companies that are building the next generation of infrastructure in the telecommunications industry. LimeLife is the first content company Core has invested in which takes advantage of that infrastructure and is part of Core’s longer term commitment to the growth of consumer mobile content.

LimeLife was named by IDC as one of the Ten Emerging Wireless Players to Watch in 2006 and received the Red Herring 100 North America award in 2007. Over the last two years, LimeLife has forged strong content partnerships with leading consumer brands and distribution relationships with the major U.S. carriers. LimeLife has also built an innovative technology platform to launch networked mobile applications, such as In Style Mobile which was cited in Mobile Insider as “the best magazine execution…on mobile.”

About LimeLife, Inc.
LimeLife Inc., based in Menlo Park, California, is the only publisher of wireless content exclusively focused on the women’s market. The company’s products are forging innovations in the mobile industry based on unique insights about what women seek in mobile entertainment. Products include lifestyle tools, wireless games, fashion wallpapers and original daily text messages. LimeLife distributes its mobile offerings through the company’s relationships with multiple wireless carriers, including AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless as well as from the company’s web site at www.LimeLife.com.


arrow up

Core Capital Leads $6M Round For FreedomPay, Inc.

Cashless Payment Market Leader To Use Funds for Growth and Expansion

Washington, D.C. (March 13, 2007) - Core Capital Partners, a leading venture capital firm, announced today that it led a Series D financing for Wayne, PA-based FreedomPay, Inc., the world leader in cashless payment and loyalty solutions. FreedomPay will use this round of financing to increase its sales force, accelerate development of new product capabilities, and expand domestically and abroad. Core Capital Partners led a syndicate of investors, which included current investors BlueRun Ventures and Goldman Sachs.

"FreedomPay’s innovative solution incorporates RFID technology and data management tools to increase sales and profitability,” said Mark Levine, a Core Capital managing director who will join the FreedomPay board. “We feel the market for cashless payments products will grow rapidly as businesses streamline point of sales options for the convenience of their customers. FreedomPay is positioned as the clear industry leader with major industry and government customers."

“Core Capital has a proven track record of success in building great companies in high-growth markets,” said Tom Durovsik, founder and CEO of FreedomPay, Inc. “Their expertise in both data management and logistics is of enormous value to us.”

FreedomPay, Inc.’s use of RFID technology creates a system that eliminates the need for paying with cash. FreedomPay, Inc. provides network access, hardware, installation, training, customer recruitment and support and rewards programs for companies who want to provide added convenience and time-saving measures to its customers at the register. The company currently serves the nation’s largest food service providers, Fortune 1000 companies, healthcare facilities, universities and the military among others.

About FreedomPay, Inc.
FreedomPay Inc., headquartered in Wayne, PA is the leading cashless payment solution provider utilizing RFID technology. FreedomPay provides turnkey cashless solutions for clients and operators looking for a flexible cashless program that can be customized to fit their needs. FreedomPay cashless solutions enhance café speed, convenience, and delivers guest, loyalty and online purchasing options. Learn more about FreedomPay Cashless Solutions at www.FreedomPay.com

arrow up

Core Capital Leads Series A Round For 6th Sense Analytics

Core Capital Managing Director, William Dunbar, Joins Board of Software Analytics Company

Washington, D.C. (January 31, 2007) - Core Capital Partners, a private equity firm that invests capital in technology ventures, announced today a Series A investment in Morrisville, N.C.-based 6th Sense Analytics, a pioneer in improving software development metrics. Intersouth Partners of Durham, NC also participated in the round. The total investment of $6.7 million will be used to accelerate research and development in addition to expanding marketing and sales.

"The 6th Sense solution delivers new levels of automation that enable developers to more easily track software development data and metrics and keep projects on budget and on time,” says William Dunbar, Core Capital managing director. “We remain active in the space because demand for better analytics software is increasing, especially as a growing number of development projects are outsourced offshore.”

“Core Capital has a proven track record of success in building great companies in our space,” said Greg Burnell, 6th Sense CEO. “This round of funding will enable us to help meet the growing demand for our solution as it provides accurate visibility into maintenance efforts and other development processes – a challenge traditional applications have failed to meet.”

The 6th Sense solution focuses on providing accurate, fact-based metrics regarding developers’ work real time in addition to capturing data that focuses on maintenance efforts such as defect tracking and bug fixes to change requests. Current customers include CoreObjects, Defywire, GXS and iconoculture.

About 6th Sense Analytics
6th Sense Analytics, a pioneer in improving software development metrics, gives developers and managers deep insight into their software development process by delivering accurate metrics without interrupting the software development lifecycle or changing the tools used. The company uses an open and independent architecture that provides visibility into the status of distributed software projects. Founded in 2004 by a team of experienced executives in the software development market, representing companies including Rational (now IBM), TogetherSoft and Borland, 6th Sense Analytics is a privately held company based near Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.

arrow up

Copyright 2007 Core Capital Partners.
Home | About | Team | Portfolio | News | Contact | LP Log-in | Site map