WebSideStory Inc., the leading provider of real-time Internet intelligence for e-business, today (Jan 9) announced that it has received $7.5 million in funding from two Silicon Valley-based venture capital firms.
The investment from TA Associates and Summit Partners — two of the largest investment firms in the U.S., with combined capital of $10 billion under management — caps a banner year 2000 for WebSideStory. The company, which pioneered the real-time method of web traffic analysis in 1996, saw tremendous growth in several areas last year:
- The number of WebSideStory’s HitBox Enterprise customers grew 700 percent from 1999 to include such market leaders as Cisco Systems, Akamai, Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard, ESPN, Terra Networks, El Sitio, New Line Cinema, Universal Studios, Skechers.com and more.
- WebSideStory expanded its operations overseas in 2000, opening an office in Europe, as well as in Miami to focus on Latin America.
- The company nearly doubled the number of employees and in January 2000 became the anchor tenant of a six-story office building in Sorrento Valley. The move into a 60,000-square-foot space sets the stage for future growth.
“2000 was truly an outstanding year for us despite the great volatility in the rest of the Internet sector,” said John Hentrich, president and CEO of WebSideStory. “We expect to continue our strong growth through 2001.” The $7.5 million will be used for general operating purposes, Hentrich said.
HitBox Enterprise is a comprehensive intelligence service that provides detailed statistics about online visitor and customer behavior in real time. Geared for high-volume sites, the service allows users to easily measure marketing return on investment, increase site stickiness and visitor loyalty, track customer interest in products and services, improve customer service, and enhance site design and navigation.
WebSideStory unveiled the latest version of HitBox Enterprise in October as part of a suite of ASP services along with HitBox Wireless, HitBox Commerce, HitBox Performance, HitBox Analytics and HitBox DataWise.
The entire suite of integrated intelligence services is designed to give e-businesses one easy technology solution to drive e-commerce revenue; track customer interest in products and services; improve customer service and technical support; improve site performance, design and navigation; increase site stickiness and visitor loyalty; monitor overall site growth; track wireless activity and more.
