Intelliden corners the market on landing large investments

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Jul 29, 2003 | by CHRIS WALSH

Intelliden Corp. has defied the odds.

Again.

For the second time in just over a year, the Colorado Springs software startup company secured millions of dollars in venture capital funding.

Intelliden said Monday it received $12.5 million in financing during the second quarter, allowing the company to grow and aggressively market its products.

It's the first local company to receive a significant amount of venture capital financing since last fall.

"Even great companies today aren't getting financed," said Dale Hecht, Intelliden's chief executive officer. "This is a big testament to not only the management team we have in place and the technology we put together, but also the momentum we're generating from a sales perspective."

Intelliden has seen "really significant" growth in sales to telecommunications companies, national businesses and the government, Hecht said.

The investment is the third-largest statewide and the highest amount for any software company in Colorado during the second quarter.

It is the largest investment in a Colorado Springs company since Intelliden landed money in the first quarter of 2002. Intelliden, founded in 2000, develops software that makes it easier for businesses to configure routers and switches, which transfer data between networks and over the Internet. Westbury Partners, a New Yorkbased venture firm, was the lead investor in the venture capital round.

Matrix Partners, 3i US and mortonsgroup LLC also participated in the round. All three firms previously invested in Intelliden.

"We've always been convinced by their management team that they can execute," said Martin Gagen, chief executive officer of 3i.

"I think it says a lot about Intelliden that they are raising money in difficult times, bringing on a new investor and bringing back previous investors," he said.

Intelliden will use the money to boost its sales and marketing and add 25 employees during the next year. It employs 50, up five this year.

Focusing on sales and marketing is key for Intelliden to move ahead of its competition, said Zeus Kerravala, vice president of enterprise infrastructure at the Yankee Group, a Boston technology research firm.

"Intelliden is part of a group of startups that has redefined configuration management" Kerravala said. "I think right now their product is pretty good. It's going to come down to the marketing efforts and sales efforts they have and being able to partner with the right companies."

This is the second time Intelliden landed money in a tough venture capital climate.

The company received $15 million in the first quarter of 2002, when venture investments nationwide hit fiveyear lows before continuing to sink. They recently appear to be stabilizing.

Intelliden's success partly can be attributed to its conservative, careful approach, Hecht said.

It never bought into the reckless days of the technology boom, when companies abandoned traditional methods of starting a business and burned through billions in venture capital.

Instead, Intelliden operated quietly for two years, developing products and studying its market rather than generating hype.

"We made sure we understood how the technology worked. We did the market research necessary to make sure we had a market that would be large and growing," Hecht said. "We've been building the company from the ground up with the right business model in mind."

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