Fast-growing startup diCarta, Inc announced closing a $26m mezzanine funding round on Monday (Jul 17th).
Led by blue-chip investor Capital Research and Management Company, this round brings the total equity raised by di Carta to over $35m since its foundation in October 1998. A mezzanine round is normally viewed as the last before a company moves forward to an IPO (initial public offering).
Other contributors to the round included Comdisco Ventures, Deloitte Consulting and Octane Capital Management, as well as Silicon Valley law firm Cooley Godward, and Prang Enterprises, the investment fund set up by Joe Prang, formerly president of Aspect Development. Previous investors also participated.
diCarta launched its contract and revenue management services in February, and now has 32 customers in production, CEO Scott Martin told ASP-News last week.
The diCarta service is designed for companies that deliver services against a contract. It helps automate the processes involved, first in negotiating a contract, and then in tracking the revenues accrued during the contract term.
Its core customer base is made up of fast-growing high-tech Internet and software companies – including ASPs – who face increasing scrutiny of how they recognise revenues from contract commitments. “Almost every software company in the world is trying to get to a deferred revenue model,” diCarta’s president and CEO Scott Martin told ASP-News last week.
The core customer base includes Ariba, AskJeeves, Interact Commerce, Jamcracker, Novadigm, RightWorks, SilverStream and WebMethods.
diCarta is now setting its sights on two further prospect groups. Global 1000 companies form one, while the other is made up of business to business (B2B) exchanges.
Its automated solution simplifies the electronic transaction process for Internet marketplaces and trading exchanges by allowing buyers and sellers to negotiate and collaborate online through every step of the contract management process.
Following on from recent US legislation recognising digital signatures, the company is also offering neutral third-party storage of digitally signed documents as a follow-up service to the contract management solution in the B2B trading environment.
“diCarta will own the online contract management space through its leading edge customer list, powerful industry alliances, and blue chip investors,” said Martin. “With this final investment round we expect to make online contract management a requirement for any company using contracts to do business.”
