SilverCarrot, Inc. Completes Venture Financing Round; Doubles Senior Management Team to Handle Growth
Performance-based lead generation firm receives venture funding from Dolphin Equity Partners, Wall Street Technology Partners, Newlight Associates and 1 to 1 Ventures and Seed Capital; Brown and Berger join as EVPs
NEW YORK, April 25, 2005 – SilverCarrot, Inc., an emerging leader in the online performance-based lead generation business, today announced it has closed a Series B round of venture financing from an impressive group of venture capital firms led by lead investor Dolphin Equity Partners.
In addition, Wall Street Technology Partners and Newlight Associates, along with existing investors Seed Capital and 1 to 1 Ventures, participated in this round, which was significantly oversubscribed. North Haven Partners, an investment bank, served as the exclusive financial advisor to SilverCarrot, Inc., initiating the transaction and leading the negotiations and execution. The new financing will enable the firm to move aggressively on a number of business initiatives, including potential acquisitions.
SilverCarrot, founded in 1999, delivers millions of qualified sales leads each month to Fortune 1000 advertisers such as Procter & Gamble, Dell Computer, American Express, T-Mobile, BMG and others. To help generate these leads, SilverCarrot purchases more than a billion advertising impressions per month from top online publishers.
"Marketers are increasingly being judged on their ability to improve measurable ROI on their marketing investments,” said Allan Levy, SilverCarrot founder and CEO. “SilverCarrot’s solutions enable clients to confidently deliver against this objective. We are poised to benefit from the explosive growth of performance-based advertising.”
“What made an investment in SilverCarrot particularly attractive was their innovative optimization technology,” said Salvatore Tirabassi, partner, Dolphin Equity Partners. “This allows them to optimize the offers a prospect sees based on the source of the traffic, prospect demographics and previous interaction with SilverCarrot.”
Victoria Katsov, partner at Wall Street Technology Partners, added: “We looked at several potential investments in this rapidly growing sector and were particularly impressed with SilverCarrot’s reputation, leadership, and advertiser and publisher solutions. We were excited to have played a key role in getting the venture financing accomplished.”
New senior management added
SilverCarrot also announced that it has added substantial depth to its senior management team with the hiring of Steven Brown as executive vice president, sales and Richard Berger as executive vice president, marketing. SilverCarrot has also added three experienced business development professionals.
Brown, 39, is an experienced sales and business development leader who joins SilverCarrot from United Online/Juno Online services, the industry`s third-largest ISP, where he served as senior director, business development. In that role, he contributed to the ISP`s overall new business growth of more than $20 million in annual revenue by securing deals with Fortune 100 firms such as American Express, Time, Inc. General Motors, Procter & Gamble and Verizon Wireless. Previously, Brown held senior advertising sales positions at Snowball.com and Viacom/CBS Radio.
Berger, 38, is a seasoned marketer who most recently directed acquisition marketing for AT&T Wireless prior to its acquisition by Cingular Wireless. He began his career in brand management at Procter & Gamble and is well versed in the needs and expectations of Fortune 500 clients and interactive agencies. Berger has also held senior marketing positions at Financial Engines and GuruNet.
Further, in conjunction with their investment, Salvatore Tirabassi of Dolphin Equity Partners and Victoria Katsov of Wall Street Technology Partners will join SilverCarrot’s Board of Directors.
About SilverCarrot:
SilverCarrot is a leading performance-based lead generation company based in New York. SilverCarrot enables its advertising clients to generate high volumes of top-quality customer leads and sales on a pay-for-performance basis. The firm also teams with publishing partners to help them maximize the revenue from their advertising inventory. For more information, please visit www.silvercarrot.com.
About Dolphin Equity Partners:
Dolphin Equity Partners, L.P. specializes in investments in emerging communications and related information technology companies operating in the U.S. and abroad. Located in New York, Dolphin currently manages over $340 million in capital. Dolphin seeks to obtain significant equity positions in expansion stage companies with the potential for substantial growth in communications technologies, software and services. For more information, please visit www.dolphinequity.com.
About Wall Street Technology Partners:
Wall Street Technology Partners LP (WSTP) is a New York-based technology fund founded in 2000. The fund invests in mid-to-late stage US-based technology and media companies across a wide industry spectrum, including software applications, servers and storage, semiconductors, wireless, telecom systems and enterprise and carrier networks. WSTP has in excess of $100 million of capital under management. For more information, please visit www.wallstreettp.com.
About North Haven Partners:
North Haven Partners is a New York City-based investment banking boutique that focuses on financings, mergers and acquisitions for companies in the online media and software industries. Established in 1998, the company can be reached at www.northhavenpartners.com.
Media Contact:
Jack Mello, PR for SilverCarrot
201-981-5617
jamello@aol.com
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