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Six Apart gets $10M, adds Microsoft Director to Board
By siliconindia
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Friday, 08 October 2004, 19:30 IST |
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SAN MATEO: Six Apart, known for its award-winning and innovative software used by webloggers around the world, announced today that it has received $10 million in Series B funding from August Capital. In addition, the company announced that August Capital partners David F. Marquardt, a member of the board of directors of Microsoft and Seagate Technologies, and David M. Hornik, a member of the board of directors of PayCycle and Nomis, have joined Six Apart's board of directors. Terms of the investment were not disclosed.
"We are extremely fortunate to have August Capital as an investor and Dave and David as board members," said Mena Trott, Six Apart's co-founder and president. "Dave Marquardt has a proven track record of growing young companies into market leaders, including companies like Adaptec and Sun. David Hornik is an accomplished technology investor and attorney who has helped companies like Yahoo and Ofoto in their formative stages, as well as being an avid weblogger. Their engaging, energetic and hands-on approach matches our corporate culture. They intimately understand our users and our business and will be true partners in helping us grow."
"Weblogging is on a growth trajectory on par with the beginnings of email," said David Hornik, a partner at August Capital. "We've been watching Six Apart for a long time and have admired their innovative and carefully crafted products, which have created one of the most loyal and engaged global communities we've ever seen. We are pleased to be able to play a role in the continued growth of one of the brightest companies on the technology horizon today."
In the last year, Six Apart has released significant new versions of its hugely popular Movable Type publishing platform and award-winning TypePad hosted weblogging service.
In addition, the company has added depth to its management team, established Japanese and European subsidiaries, signed licensing agreements with systems integrator Hitachi, telecommunications leader NTT and ISP NIFTY and established a partnership with mobile leader Nokia. The company said the funds will be used for continued product development, international expansion, increased customer support and sales and marketing initiatives.
"Weblogs are growing into an essential communication vehicle, just like email and instant messaging," said Barak Berkowitz, Six Apart's CEO. "Already, corporations, government agencies, political candidates, journalists and individuals are all using our products to create weblogs and we see acceleration in the growth of the market as new uses and applications for weblogs are discovered. With August Capital's resources, Six Apart can continue to spur the growth of weblogging and provide our customers with enhanced support, new product innovation and market leadership in this exploding growth period."
Dave Marquardt, who has spent more than 20 years in venture capital, co-founded August Capital in 1995. Prior to August Capital, Dave was a co-founder of Technology Venture Investors (TVI). TVI was the sole investor in Microsoft and Dave has served on the Microsoft board of directors since 1981. He was involved in four highly successful funds with TVI that invested in more than 100 start-up and emerging growth companies. He has served on 25 boards, including Microsoft, Seagate, Sun and Grand Junction Networks (acquired by Cisco.) Previously, Dave was a design engineer and development manager at Diablo Systems (acquired by Xerox) where he collaborated on and/or led various disk drive and printer programs. He received a BSME from Columbia University and an MBA from Stanford University.
David Hornik joined August Capital in 2000 after serving as an intellectual property and corporate attorney, representing technology start ups in all aspects of their formation, financing and operations, including Yahoo!, When.com (AOL), Sonique (Terra Lycos), Pure Payments (Excite@Home), BuyDirect (Beyond.com) and Ofoto (Kodak). He earned a degree in Computer Music at Stanford, received a Master's of Philosophy in Criminology at Cambridge and graduated from Harvard Law School with a J.D. degree, magna cum laude. At Harvard, he focused on the convergence of technology and the law, serving as an editor of the Harvard Journal of Law and Technology. He currently sits on the board of directors of Nomis Solutions, Notiva, PayCycle and Transaction Engines and is a board observer with Westbridge Technologies. He writes for the well-respected weblog VentureBlog (www.ventureblog.com).
August Capital joins Neoteny as an investor in Six Apart. Neoteny, a Japanese venture capital firm focused on the rapidly expanding realm of the networked computer, led the company's Series A round. Other members of the board of directors in addition to the two named today are Reid Hoffman, a founding member of PayPal and currently CEO of LinkedIn and investor in Six Apart; Jun Makihara, a former managing director of Goldman, Sachs & Co. and chairman of Neoteny; Mena Trott, Six Apart co-founder and president; and Barak Berkowitz, CEO of Six Apart.