E-mail marketing specialist iContact raises $40 million

E-mail marketing services vendor iContact has received $40 million through a Series B investment round from JMI Equity, a private equity firm. iContact has sold e-mail marketing services to 65,000 customers around the world, the vendor says.

“We’ll use the majority of these new funds to make significant investments in sales and marketing, back-end technology, our product features and usability, global expansion, and of course, our people that drive all of our success,” says Ryan Allis, CEO and co-founder of iContact.

As part of the investment, Brad Woloson, JMI general partner, and Jit Sinha, JMI principal, will join iContact’s board of directors.

“Over the past decade, JMI has invested in online technologies that enable companies to market more effectively to their prospects and customers,” Woloson says. “We believe iContact has demonstrated the high growth and predictability of its software-as-a-service business model in this market.”

iContact recently launched a second mobile app that helps e-commerce companies manage their e-mail marketing campaigns. The latest app, for smartphones that use Google Inc.’s Android operating system, came after the release of an  app for Apple Inc.’s iPhone.