SELLIGENT RAISES 6 MILLION EUROS IN THIRD ROUND OF FUNDING


Capital investment from 3i, Innovacom, Dassault Developpement and Technicom to fuel European expansion and reach profitability

Gosselies, 26 November 2001 - Selligent, the European Customer Relationship Management (CRM) specialist, has closed a third round of funding totalling six million Euros. The investment will fuel expansion in Europe and will allow Selligent to reach profitability.

3i, Innovacom, Dassault Developpement and Technicom have provided the investment. 3i participates in Selligent as a new investor with this round of financing, while the other financial partners increase their existing investment.

Alexander Banz from 3i said :” the CRM market is undergoing a shake-out, and we believe Selligent is in a particularly good position to conquer a much greater market share. We believe the new Selligent Xi technology is impressive and is the right foundation for Selligent’s success in the coming years, as well as the company’s profitability.”

The CRM market is expected to grow in Europe between 30 and 40% over the coming five years . Selligent has recorded a growth of more than 60% a year in the last three years, and 40% growth during the first half of 2001 compared to the first half of 2000. The company started new operations this year in the Nordic Region, Spain and Canada.

“According to industry analysts, educated buyers are tending to turn to easily and rapidly deployable CRM solutions. This puts Selligent in a very strong position when compared to more inflexible CRM solutions offering lots of hype and ROI promises that can’t be verified at anytime in the near future” says André Lejeune, CEO of Selligent. “We are particularly happy and proud with this investment during a period when most software companies are failing to raise any more capital. Our primary focus for Selligent is to reach profitability and exploit the vast ecosystem we have been developing over the last two years”.
 

NOTE TO EDITORS

ABOUT 3I GROUP

3i Group plc is Europe's leading venture capital company. The Group invests in ambitious, growing businesses in all sectors. In technology it focuses on telecommunications, software, e-business and Biotechnology. It provides funding for growth, management buy-outs and management buy-ins focusing on businesses with high growth potential and strong management. 3i invests in businesses across three continents through local investment teams in Europe, Asia Pacific and the USA.

ABOUT INNOVACOM
Innovacom is a venture capital company focused on information technology with strong links with France Telecom. Innovacom has about 400 million Euros under management in several funds. Those funds are dedicated to investments in start up and fast growing companies related to Internet, software and hardware for telecommunications. Innovacom is located in Paris, San Francisco and Stockholm.

ABOUT DASSAULT DEVELOPPEMENT
Dassault Développement is the venture capital company of the Dassault Group. Its mission is to find the best entrepreneurial teams in the fastest growing sectors of the economy and provide them with the support they require for success. Dassault Développement’s primary focus is on emerging growth companies in the information technologies sector. Dassault Développement combines the capabilities and presence of a major industrial player and a proven capital markets expertise, with the character and focus of an entrepreneurial firm.

ABOUT TECHNICOM
Technicom is a venture capital fund that specialises in the information technology industry: computers, software and telecommunications. The company was founded in 1988 and currently manages approximately 25 million Euros in capital. Technicom's portfolio is composed of 20 companies such as Reef, Traff-X and Info2Clear.
About Selligent
Selligent is an international company specialising in high-performance sales, marketing and customer service solutions.
The success encountered by the Selligent solutions amongst their users can be attributed to appropriate customer coaching during implementation and to the extremely flexible configuration features of the advanced web technology used. These two components guarantee a quick return on investment (ROI), a high user adoption rate and a reduced total cost of ownership (TCO).
As a consequence, Selligent has achieved a customer retention rate, which has been the highest in the CRM industry.

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