Ensim Scores $64M

Hosting operations infrastructure leader Ensim Corporation announced today (Jan 8) that it has secured $64 million in new funding, and has completed its acquisition of Asia-Pac engineering firm Cybermedia Software Private, Ltd. in Pune, India.

“We have our core product, a significant roster of charter customers and a solid management team,” said Rosen Sharma, Ensim’s president and CEO. “This funding lets us take the next step in our business plan, to fully penetrate our markets and establish Ensim as not only as the first mover but also the market leader. The hosting business is exploding, and our partnership with such seasoned investment pros gives us the resources to make the most of our early lead.”

The round includes new investors Worldview Technology Partners, Amerindo Technology Advisors, Charter Growth Capital, 3i Technology Partners, Sumitomo Corporation, Presidio Venture Partners, Newton Technology Partners and Epoch Partners. Returning to this round are New Enterprise Associates, ONSET Ventures and CMEA Ventures. This brings total investment in Ensim to $85 million since 1999.

Concurrently, Ensim announced several management changes. Rosen Sharma, Ensim co-founder and chairman, succeeds Ken Fehrnstrom as chief executive. Ajit Shah, general partner at Worldview Technology Partners, which led the new round, has assumed the role of chairman. Under their leadership, Ensim will use the new funding to support global expansion, strengthen sales and marketing, and further develop Ensim’s industry-leading technology for hosting infrastructure.

“Optimizing data center infrastructure represents a huge market opportunity that will bring new revenue streams and cost-efficiencies to Internet hosting operations internationally,” said Shah. “We believe strongly in Ensim’s potential to meet this rapidly emerging need. In our view, they have the right technology, innovative products, and a strong team that will permit them to lead the market.”

Sharma co-founded Ensim in June 1998 with Cornell colleague, S. Keshav. Sharma was an assistant professor of computer science at Cornell University. Prior to joining the faculty at Cornell, Sharma co-founded VxTreme, a Silicon Valley start-up focused on client-server multimedia applications over the internet. VxTreme was acquired by Microsoft in July 1997.

Shah’s broad background includes 16 years as a venture investor, business and technology executive, and entrepreneur. Prior to Worldview, he was a Partner at Sierra Ventures where he helped lead the software investment practice. He founded several Silicon Valley companies including Ajida Technologies, PlanetID, Intuitive Surgical, Epicardia, and MTP.

Ensim Corporation has created a new category of Internet infrastructure products and solutions to address the rapidly changing needs of hosting providers. ServerXchange, Ensim’s flagship product, is a comprehensive hosting operations platform designed to enable hosting providers, including ISPs, ASPs and data center operators, to rapidly grow and efficiently operate large-scale, web and e-commerce hosting businesses.

ServerXchange gives hosting providers a unified view into their hosting environment, a mechanism for rapidly adding new and differentiated service plans, and a comprehensive portfolio of automation and customer self-administration tools. With 25 patents pending on ServerXchange enables hosting providers to build and operate a scalable and profitable hosting business.

No that Ensim has completed the integration of the assets of Cybermedia, it will be renamed Ensim India Private, Ltd. (EIPL), and it will form a vital center for Ensim’s Asia-Pacific engineering and support activities.

EIPL has established its expertise in the areas of Windows NT, Windows 95, ActiveX, COM, DCOM, Java, web content development and online technical support for clients including Microsoft Corporation, Network Associates Inc., NetThrust

Inc. and Safetynet Inc.

“The completion of this acquisition further extends our technology leadership in the marketplace through the addition of world-class engineers who are focused on solving the most pressing problems facing ISPs, ASPs and hosting providers,” said Ensim president and CEO Sharma. “At this point, the Cybermedia team is fully integrated into Ensim so that the additional productivity they provide is seamless across our organization.”