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Defywire Raises $4.5M Series A Round June 5, 2003 Attracted by Partnerships with webMethods, Sun Microsystems and Sharp Electronics, Intersouth Partners and Anthem Capital Lead Investment in Premier Enterprise Mobility Provider RESTON, Va., June 4 -- Defywire, a leading provider of wireless enterprise software solutions, today announced that it has raised $4.5 million in a Series A investment. Today’s deal culminates a milestone year for Defywire that included major partnership and distribution deals with webMethods, Sun Microsystems and Sharp Electronics, Fortune 1000 customer implementations, including GE Access, and the launch of the company’s server-based wireless software solution -- the Defywire Mobility Suite®. Both Anthem Capital Management and The Washington Dinner Club also invested in this round. Don Rainey of Intersouth Partners and Xander Perry of Anthem Capital Management will join Defywire’s board of directors. Defywire is led by CEO Jill Stelfox, the former chief financial officer of Noblestar. At Noblestar, Stelfox helped guide Riverbed Technology through a nearly $1 billion corporate sale to Aether Systems in 2000, resulting in a 10,000 percent return to investors. Defywire’s management team also includes industry veterans from Noblestar Systems, Nortel Networks and Sun Microsystems. The company will utilize the funding to bolster its sales and marketing efforts and build out its sales team. “ I've seen countless emerging companies over the years and few have accomplished what Defywire has been able to do in just over 12 months,” said Rainey, technology venture partner at Intersouth Partners. “The software meets an urgent market need, the industry has validated the product, and the management team is experienced at returning significant value to investors. Simply put, all the pieces are there.” Much more than merely a provider of wireless access to enterprise e-mail, Defywire’s Java-based architecture links mobile executives with business- critical enterprise applications -- securely and in real-time -- that historically have only been accessed via a landline connection. The Defywire Mobility Suite allows users to access leading enterprise resource planning packages, databases, messaging software, salesforce automation systems and customer relationship management software to include Oracle, Peoplesoft, SAP and Siebel Systems. “ We were looking for a company that turned the promise of wireless into a tangible business value today,” said Perry, a general partner at Baltimore- based Anthem Capital Management. “The Defywire team has built a technology that hit the street with great reception and offers key components competitors have missed such as open system standards and real-time access. Rarely do you find the technology and the sales acumen together in such a young company.” “ Since we started the company, we have had a singular mission to build a superior technology supported by the right team,” Stelfox said. “As new board members and investors, Don and Xander definitely fit that plan. Their expertise will help us capture the market lead faster.” Defywire also credits, among others, law firm Morgan Lewis with significant assistance in the venture capital search. “Both Dave Harvey (a director of the firm’s Client Advisory Services Group) and Dean Rutley (a firm partner) were active players in our funding search, driving the process and providing access to their vast network of venture contacts. Raising venture money today, you need friends willing to leverage their reputations to help. Dave and Dean did just that.” |