Funding Arrives at Grand Central

Grand Central Communications Inc., a Web Services infrastructure provider that offers networked connectivity to companies looking to enable application-to-application integration, announced today that it has raised $23 million in a Series B-round of financing.

The latest round brings the company’s total private equity funding to more than $28 million. Institutional investors include Benchmark Capital, JGE Capital, Merrill Lynch, Gryphon Investments, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.

Grand Central offers a secure network that authenticates communications between applications. For example, the outsourced solution eliminates the need for ASPs to build their own custom API integration tool kits. The application-to-application transactions are moved outside of the corporate firewall onto the shared Grand Central infrastructure. An ASP hooks up to its network once and can connect with all of its customers, provided they are also Grand Central customers.

“To date, businesses have been unable to realize the full value of their extended enterprise due to the cost and complexity of traditional integration technologies,” said Craig Donato, president and CEO of Grand Central Communications. “By making integration with partners as easy as plugging a phone into a phone jack, Grand Central’s Web Services Network makes the real-time extended enterprise a reality.”

“With this round of financing, Grand Central has the strong financial footing it needs to widely distribute its Web Services Network to an even greater market,” said Halsey Minor, chairman and founder of Grand Central Communications.

The San Francisco-based company also announced that it is expanding it board of directors. Pierre Omidyar, founder and chairman of eBay and Ted Waitt, founder, CEO and chairman of Gateway, have joined Halsey Minor, founder of CNET Networks, and Donato on the board.

“We have assembled a prominent Board with extensive experience in building world class organizations and providing inspired leadership,” added Donato.

Do you have a comment or question about this article or the ASP industry in general? Speak out in the ASP Discussion Forum.