HERNDON, Va. -- June 15, 2005 -- Today SWsoft, a leader in server automation and virtualization software, announced that it has received funding from Insight Venture Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners and Intel Capital. Previously financed by its founders and cash from operations, this funding represents the first institutional investment in SWsoft and will be used to accelerate its global presence in both the enterprise and service provider markets. In combination with the funding, Intel and SWsoft announced a technology and marketing collaborative agreement.
"SWsoft serves the rapidly expanding hosting and enterprise markets for server automation and virtualization," said Mike Triplett, Managing Director, Insight Venture Partners. "The company represents a compelling opportunity due to its experienced management team and its track record of several years of strong revenue performance and profitability. SWsoft joins other successful Insight Partners companies such as Quest Software, Website Pros and Aelita Software."
"At Bessemer, we are impressed by the resurgent hosting market's rapid growth, which is reminiscent of the environment in this sector several years ago when we made investments in Verisign, Register.com and Verio," said Jeremy Levine, Principal, Bessemer Venture Partners. "SWsoft has become a front runner due to its world-class team of engineers, several patent-pending technologies, proven solutions and business model. SWsoft is an excellent addition to our network of high growth companies."
"SWsoft provides attractive and efficient virtualization and dynamic resource management software," said Steve Pawlowski, Intel's Digital Enterprise Group CTO and Intel Senior Fellow. "Working in conjunction with Intel(R) Virtualization Technology and Intel(R) Active Management Technology, this software may provide a way to extend the server virtualization model across the data center for increased reliability, enhanced flexibility and lower TCO."
As part of Intel's strategic investment in SWsoft, the companies have entered into a technology and marketing collaboration agreement relating to SWsoft's Virtuozzo server virtualization solution. The technical and go to market cooperation will encompass current and future 32 bit and 64 bit Intel platforms and technologies such as Intel(R) Virtualization Technology, Dual-Core and EM64T.
"This round of investment represents an important milestone for our company in moving to the next stage," said Serguei Beloussov, Chairman and CEO, SWsoft. "We have selected these investors due to their complementary strengths and strong track records in both the hosting and enterprise markets. The proceeds and relationships will be used for acquisition opportunities, broadening our partnership ecosystems, and attracting additional sales, marketing and business development talent."
In addition, SWsoft announced that Mike Triplett from Insight Venture Partners and Jeremy Levine from Bessemer Venture Partners will join the company's Board of Directors.
About SWsoft
SWsoft is the recognized leader in server automation and virtualization software for service providers and enterprises. With more than 10,000 customers in over 100 countries, SWsoft's suite of products delivers proven performance, reliability, manageability and value. Headquartered in Herndon, VA, with offices around the world; SWsoft is a privately held, high growth company, offering comprehensive solutions including: Virtuozzo, Plesk, SiteBuilder, HSPcomplete and PEM. For more information, visit www.sw-soft.com.
About Insight Venture Partners
Insight Venture Partners, with approximately $1.5 billion in funds under management, is the leading venture capital firm specializing in enterprise software companies. Insight invests in entrepreneurial companies developing technology-based solutions for the corporate enterprise. Headquartered in New York, Insight has taken a global approach to e-commerce investing in a market where speed, domain expertise, and the ability to execute are the foundations of success. More information on Insight is available at http://www.insightpartners.com.
About Bessemer Venture Partners
Bessemer Venture Partners carries on one of the longest-standing private venture capital operations in the country. With more than a billion dollars under management, BVP has almost a century's experience of investing in and helping to build innovative, high-growth companies. Many leading innovators, including Parametric Technology (Nasdaq:PMTC), Ciena (Nasdaq:CIEN), VeriSign (Nasdaq:VRSN), Staples (Nasdaq:SPLS), Veritas (Nasdaq:VRTS) and Gartner (NYSE:IT), selected BVP as their early-stage venture partner. BVP has offices in the nation's top technology markets - California, Massachusetts, and New York. For more information, please visit the Bessemer Venture Partners website at www.bvp.com.
About Intel Capital
Intel Capital, Intel's strategic investment program, focuses on making equity investments and acquisitions to grow the Internet economy in support of Intel's strategic interests. Intel Capital invests in hardware, software and services companies in several market segments, including computing, networking, and wireless communications. For more information, visit www.intel.com/capital.
