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Visto Secures Additional $70 Million Financing From New and Existing Investors
Strong Investor Support Positions Company To Drive Mass Adoption of Mobile Email
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – November 9, 2005 – Visto Corporation, the world’s leading provider of secure mobile push email, today announced it has secured $70 million in an oversubscribed financing round led by DFJ ePlanet Ventures and joined by current investors Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Oak Investment Partners, Meritech Capital Partners, Rustic Canyon, VantagePoint and Allegis Capital. Visto will use the funds to accelerate penetration of global markets, drive customer initiatives and deliver rapid deployment of innovative mobile technology.
The Visto Mobile™ push email service is currently available from the world’s leading wireless operators, including: Vodafone, the world’s largest mobile community; Rogers Wireless, Canada’s largest wireless operator; and Sprint-Nextel. This new financing ensures strong local support for these and other customers as well as continued investment and expansion into new geographies.
“This financing level clearly demonstrates a tremendous vote of confidence in our strategy, technology, execution, intellectual property and team,” said Brian Bogosian, chairman, CEO and president for Visto Corporation. “It signals our intent to win the world’s biggest mobility prize—to be the standard platform for secure, easy-to-use, device-agnostic push email that business professionals around the world depend on every day. Our original goal was to raise $30 million, but given investor interest, the potential size of the market, and the ultimate prize of winning in this space, we were compelled to increase the size of the round. When the dust has settled in this market, Visto will emerge as the leader as we continue to innovate with the world’s best mobile push email technology.”
Visto will continue to drive innovation in its Visto Mobile with ConstantSync™ Platform to support the applications and services that mobile professionals demand to increase productivity. The company has already expanded its ConstantSync Platform to include Visto Mobile Secure Voice™, which opens up mobile email to new business users. Additionally, Visto will continue to expand device support to provide enterprises with freedom of choice when deploying mobile messaging solutions. In less than 6 months, Visto has nearly doubled the devices it supports and is the only is the only vendor to deliver push email support on more than 60 handsets from all of the industry’s leading manufacturers.
“The mobile email market is poised to take off in 2006, and Visto is the only mobile email and messaging supplier in this market that has put into place the key ingredients – carrier relationships, device support, technology leadership and strong capitalization-required for driving mass market adoption of mobile email,” said Asad Jamal, co-chairman and managing director of DFJ ePlanet Ventures. “With its growing base of customers and handset partners, Visto is an early leader that is well positioned to drive this market forward.”
About Visto
Visto delivers the leading global platform for mobile operators to provide wireless push e-mail to the broadest set of mobile devices. Visto’s open solution enables e-mail for the mass market, targeting large enterprises, small businesses, mobile professionals and consumers. The company’s patented Visto Mobile™ platform with ConstantSync™ technology works in real time with POP3, IMAP, Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Domino e-mail solutions for personal to enterprise use, providing maximum control and flexibility for the operator and choice for the customer. Visto’s customized, brandable solutions are available through mobile operators worldwide including Cingular, Elisa, KPN, Manitoba Telecom Services, Rogers Wireless, SaskTel Mobility, SmarTone, SFR, Sprint-Nextel, TELUS Mobility and the Vodafone Group.
Established in 1996 and headquartered in Redwood Shores, California, with offices in Seattle, London, Rome, Paris, Toronto, Tokyo, Beijing and Tianjin, China, Visto is backed by DFJ ePlanet Ventures, Oak Investment Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, VantagePoint Venture Partners, Meritech Capital Partners, Rustic Canyon Ventures, Allegis Capital and Blueprint Ventures. For more information, visit www.visto.com or e-mail sales@visto.com.
About DFJ ePlanet Ventures
Draper Fisher Jurvetson ePlanet Ventures (DFJ ePlanet), founded by Asad Jamal, in partnership with Draper Fisher Jurvetson, is a premier, global venture capital firm that operates offices in Redwood City, California; Singapore, Beijing, and Shanghai, China; Hong Kong; London; and Tokyo; and is in the process of opening an office in Mumbai.
Founded in 1999, to take advantage of the growing trend towards the globalization of technology, DFJ ePlanet, with over $650 million under management, seeks to provide superior returns to its investors through its investments in early stage information technology and medical device start-ups in Asia and Europe, and in expansion stage information technology and medical device companies in the U.S. DFJ ePlanet's investments are currently focused primarily on wireless, semiconductor, consumer Internet, life sciences, VOIP, broadband and other emerging services sectors. For more information, visit www.eplanetventures.com or e-mail neil@eplanetventures.com.