Leader in the Commercialization of Web Services closes on $2M Series B
Research Triangle Park, NC – September 27, 2005 – StrikeIron™ Inc., the worldwide leader of Web services commercialization through the StrikeIron Web Services Business Networkä (WSBizNetä), today announced that the company has closed a $2 million Series B round of venture capital. Investors include The Aurora Funds, Inc. and NC IDEA. The company will use the funds to further develop its recently launched Web Services Business Marketplace as the core offering of the StrikeIron Web Services Business Network and to expand its marketing and sales activities.
Both NC IDEA and The Aurora Funds provided the funding after recognizing the significant market opportunity for commercial Web services to access real-time data and the development of on-demand applications. Web services software has moved beyond initial creation to rapid utilization and is expected to hit about $15 billion by 2009 according to a variety of industry analysts.
“StrikeIron’s strong management team and the StrikeIron Web Services Marketplace are uniquely positioned to capitalize on this market opportunity,” said David Rizzo, President and CEO of NC IDEA. “NC IDEA is excited about participating in this round of funding to enable StrikeIron’s expansion.”
“StrikeIron has clearly demonstrated early leadership in this market and the business acumen to build a technology company that can capture this growth technology market,” said Scott Albert, managing director of The Aurora Funds. “The Aurora Funds recognized this opportunity in the early development of the company and is pleased to continue its support as StrikeIron takes the next step in expanding its growth.”
Founded in 2003 by three veteran entrepreneurs; Richard Holcomb, Bob Brauer and Robert Dale bring more than fifty years of combined experience with early stage, venture-backed technology companies. The StrikeIron team has brought together years of experience commercializing Web services and developing more user friendly products, to produce the first self-publishing system required for facilitating the selling and purchasing of commercial Web services by a broader market.
“The StrikeIron Web Services Business Network is the first online commerce platform specifically designed to broaden the ability to self-commercialize Web services and provide a more efficient and accessible Web Services Marketplace,” said Bob Brauer, President and Co-founder of StrikeIron. “We are facilitating a fundamental change of underlying business models, utilizing a service-oriented architecture and creating new business opportunities for a broader market to take advantage of Web services.”
The StrikeIron Web Services Business Network provides an integrated set of capabilities designed to bring together providers, users and partners as part of a community to accelerate the adoption of commercial Web services. Key to this adoption is the StrikeIron Web Services Marketplace as the preferred central location for Web services commerce where publishers and users can come together to sell and buy Web services on top of a powerful technology platform.
About The Aurora Funds
Founded in 1994, The Aurora Funds is a venture capital firm that provides capital and strategic help to entrepreneurs with early stage life sciences and information technology companies in the Southeastern and mid-Atlantic United States. The firm has more than $200 million of total capital under management and is currently investing out of its fifth fund. The firm has the capacity to invest between $4 million to $8 million throughout the life cycle of an investment. More information is available at www.aurorafunds.com.
About NC IDEA
NC IDEA provides grants, loans and traditional venture capital to help young companies between seed funding and Series A financing. NC IDEA further supports these companies by leveraging its strong, strategic partnerships and alliances to help companies through research phases, business challenges and growth goals. NC IDEA is committed to supporting North Carolina's economic development by ensuring young, innovative companies grow, create jobs and become contributing business leaders. For more information, visit www.ncidea.org or contact David Rizzo, President and CEO, at 919-941-5600 x101 or drizzo@ncidea.org.
About StrikeIron
Based in Research Triangle Park, NC, StrikeIron, Inc. is the leader in Web services commercialization with its breakthrough StrikeIron Web Services Business NetworkTM (WSBizNetTM). WSBizNet includes the premier StrikeIron Web Services MarketplaceTM as the central ecommerce location for anyone to easily buy and sell Web services. The StrikeIron Web Services Marketplace provides the most reliable and trusted commercial Web services available in the market across the broadest spectrum of business needs. The Aurora Funds, Inc. and NC IDEA provided funding for StrikeIron after recognizing the significant opportunity presented by Web services and this unique management team. For more information, visit www.strikeiron.com.
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StrikeIron, Web Services Business Network, WSBizNet, StrikeIron Web Services Marketplace, StrikeIron Marketplace Powered, and Web Services Marketplace, are trademarks of StrikeIron, Inc. All other brands or product names are the property of their respective holders.
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