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Visto Corporation Closes $50 Million Financing Round
$20 Million Expansion Round Enables Continued Product Development and Acquisition Strategy to Give Visto Command of Wireless Messaging Market
(Redwood Shores, CALIF., June 23, 2003) – Visto Corporation (www.visto.com), the leading provider of personal and corporate mobile access solutions that are easy to install, administer and use, today announced that it has extended its recent round of private equity financing with an additional $20.1 million. This brings the total amount raised in the last 90 days to $50.4 million.
This financing was co-led by new investor, VantagePoint Venture Partners, one of the largest venture capital firms in the nation and an active investor in wireless and communications infrastructure companies. Existing investors, including Oak Investment Partners, a co-lead in the previous $30 million closing in March, and the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University also contributed additional funding.
“Success breeds success. Visto has demonstrated to the market that it has the leadership and resources to shape the future of wireless messaging,” said Brian Bogosian, chairman, president and CEO of Visto. “Results are rewarded, and companies that have a proven track record in terms of both market strategy and viable technology will continue to get funded. This is just another indicator that Visto is the clear leader to deliver best of breed secure wireless messaging to corporate IT, device manufacturers, and wireless operators.”
Visto is using the additional capital to accelerate new product development, expand its sales and marketing infrastructure, and acquire companies that complement the company’s business and technology strategy. Visto has already strengthened its leading role as a top tier provider of wireless messaging solutions among enterprises and wireless operators with the merger with ViAir, a Seattle-based company providing carrier-grade wireless e-mail solutions, earlier this month, and last week announced deals with market leaders Sony Electronics and PalmSource, Inc.
“In looking at this sector for more than a year, we believe that Visto is well positioned to emerge as a dominant player in this growing market thanks to its strong leadership and customer relationships,” said Cynthia Ringo, partner, VantagePoint Venture Partners and new Visto board member.
During 2002, Visto introduced MessageXpress, the first Visto-branded desktop wireless messaging solution to offer secure access to email for the mobile professional. Visto also upgraded its Enterprise Server Edition, providing both multiple server and domain support to provide greater flexibility for enterprise IT systems, while reducing administration and overhead for IT professionals. In addition to new solutions, Visto also announced partnerships with Bell Mobility, Handspring, Microsoft, Motorola, Palm, PalmSource, Sony Electronics, Symbian, as well as new contracts with Fortune 500 customers in manufacturing, health care, consumer goods, and professional services.
About Oak Investment Partners
Oak Investment Partners was founded in 1978 and has raised nine
venture capital partnerships with a total of $4.0 billion in committed
capital. Oak has sponsored over 300 companies with aggregate annual
revenues in excess of $60 billion. For more information, visit www.oakvc.com.
About VantagePoint Venture Partners
VantagePoint Venture Partners (www.vpvp.com) is one of the nation's
largest venture capital firms, with $2.5 billion in committed capital
in four funds. The Firm is an active multi-stage investor, providing
funding and resources for all stages of a company's lifecycle from
seed round through late stage and privately negotiated investments
in public companies. VantagePoint is based on a full-service Partner-Team
approach that provides entrepreneurs with a blend of technology,
venture capital, operations, and corporate-finance expertise. As
hands-on investors, the Firm is focused on technology investing
in communications, semiconductor, software, and related growth industries.
About Visto Corporation
Established in 1996, Visto is the leading provider of wireless messaging
solutions to mobile operators for personal and corporate use. Visto’s
technology provides secure access to the most widely used corporate
applications over any network and on a broad array of devices, and
supports both browser-based as well as offline-capable devices.
Visto Mobile Access Solution, Server Edition, provides departmental
and enterprise access to corporate email. Visto MessageXpress provides
individual access to corporate, Internet and POP3 email. Both Server
Edition and MessageXpress are well suited to the “converged”
wireless PDAs/phones using Palm OS, Pocket PC, SmartPhone, J2ME
and Symbian platforms. Visto’s WirelessInbox, provides real
time access to corporate and personal email via direct access through
desktop computers via any wireless device’s browser and is
well suited to wireless phones with only WAP browser capability.
Leveraging a portfolio of eight granted patents in synchronization,
access and security technologies, Visto’s platform is a proven,
scalable solution that has supported more than 2.7 million users.
Visto’s solutions are available through wireless operators
worldwide, including AT&T Wireless, Bell Mobility, KPN, Manitoba
Telecom Services, Nextel Communications, Inc., Rogers AT&T Wireless,
SaskTel Mobility, SmarTone and TELUS Mobility. http://www.visto.com