Reservoir Venture Partners and Athenian Venture Partners were the main participants in the round. Reservoir’s participation represents their initial investment in ECNext. ECNext will use the proceeds to accelerate e-marketing initiatives related to content buyer analysis, product packaging, conversion rate opportunities and online advertising programs. In explaining their decision, executives at both firms cite confidence in ECNext’s business model and growing market position.
“This is a strategic move for us,” explains Steven B. Jaffee, General Partner of Reservoir Venture Partners. “It is based on ECNext’s proven ability to help customers generate web revenue. It’s all about growing with change. By enabling end-users to use online searches to find and buy information, ECNext is showing its customers how to exploit a new sales channel achieve rapid pay-backs and increase profitability by as much as 50% annually. These are the kinds of results, and the potential, that we always look for in our investments.”
Francois Helou, partner of Athenian Venture Partners, says “We’ve been with ECNext from the very early stages, and couldn’t be happier with the relationship.”
“Reservoir, and certainly Athenian, have both shown a remarkable understanding of what we are doing and how we plan to continue to increase our value to clients,” says Pamela Springer, CEO of ECNext. “Investing in our various web marketing offerings is key to our next level of rapid growth.”
Springer notes that ECNext has already established strong strategic relationships throughout the information industry, and has a client list that includes Thomson Gale, D&B, Standard and Poor’s, AMR Research and Wright Reports.
About Reservoir Venture Partners L.P.
Reservoir Venture Partners L.P. (www.reservoirvp.com)
is a venture capital firm bringing capital, business
building acumen, and a strong network of advisors
to entrepreneurs and their teams. RVP targets investments
in seed and early stage technology companies with
an emphasis on biosciences and information technology.
The firm is located in Columbus, Ohio, and makes
investments without regard to geography, although
its primary targets are Ohio and the Midwest.
About Athenian Venture Partners
Athenian Venture Partners (www.athenianvp.com),
is a venture capital firm headquartered in Ohio,
with senior managers in Boston, San Diego and London.
The firm’s investment focus is in the Information
Technology/Communications and Life Sciences industries.
The firm’s five senior managers bring over
90 years of combined industry and investment experience
in the firm’s two areas of focus and provide
significant industry-specific value to Athenian’s
companies. Athenian generally invests in early stage
opportunities and participates in subsequent financing
rounds until IPO or sale. Founded in 1997, it is
currently managing three venture capital funds and
has total capital under management of over $100
million.
About ECNext
Founded in 1996, ECNext (www.ecnext.com)
specializes in turning Web searches into content
sales and subscriptions for leading business publishers,
financial analysts and market research firms. The
ECNext content merchandising program includes a
complete range of technology and services that work
together to drive more traffic, revenue and profit.
Web marketing programs drive traffic to the site; e-commerce capabilities provide a range of promotion, sales, and subscription options for capturing revenue; workflow and content management tools streamline maintenance; and tracking and reporting capabilities provide real-time intelligence for on-going business improvement. ECNext partners with customers combining Web content sales expertise with customer domain knowledge to drive business success.
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