Buyingedge.com, a “reverse auction”
e-commerce Web company and a subsidiary of software company IMA, completed a $10 million round of
equity financing.
@Ventures, the affiliated
venture capital arm of CMGI Inc. led the round of private preferred
stock financing representing approximately 29 percent of the buyingedge.com
equity.
It was joined by Wand Partners Inc., the leading institutional investor in
IMA, Amicus Capital LLC and Madrona Investment Group LLC.
Specifics are $7.5 million from @Ventures, $2.0 million from Wand Partners
Inc., and a combined $0.5 million from Amicus Capital and Madrona Investment
Group,. Proceeds from the financing will be used as working capital for
technology development and for marketing and business development
initiatives, the company said.
Buyingedge.com is an online marketplace that gives registered members the
power to review competitive bids and negotiate for the lowest prices possible
with more than 4,000 vendors of consumer goods and services.
Membership is free to the buyer. Unlike sites that require consumers to name
their price and commit to making a purchase, buyingedge.com enables consumers
to consult vendors, solicit more competitive pricing, or terminate the
transaction at will. It claims more than 20,000 buy-side members.
Gary Martino, chairman of the board for IMA, will serve as chief executive
officer of buyingedge.com and Al Subbloie, chief executive officer of IMA,
will serve as chairman of the board for buyingedge.com. Brad Garlinghouse,
general partner with @Ventures, and Eric Jeck, of Wand Partners, will each
serve as a director on the buyingedge.com board.
“Buyingedge.com is revolutionizing the e-commerce business model by giving
the consumer the opportunity to benefit from competitive bidding in an open
and truly interactive buyer-driven marketplace,” said Garlinghouse. “This is
an unparalleled market opportunity and buyingedge.com is way ahead of the
competition.”
IMA is a provider of enterprise software.
