July 31, 2002 Hanover, NH – NextMark, Inc., a leading provider of products that automate the direct marketing process, today announced it has received an equity investment for ongoing software development. The lead investor is Venture Capital Fund of New England (“VCFNE”) of Wellesley Hills, MA. Other investors include CEI Ventures of Portland, ME, Litle & Co. of Lowell, MA, and MerchantBanc Venture Partners of Manchester, NH, all three of whom previously invested in NextMark.
Carl Novotny, Managing Director of VCFNE, said, “NextMark is in a position to revolutionize the direct marketing industry. They have already delivered a very sophisticated system for finding quality leads. We hope our investment and involvement will help them to realize their vision of automating the entire process of carrying out a direct marketing program.”
Mr. Novotny has joined NextMark’s board of directors in conjunction with this financing. Prior to VCFNE, he was a co-founder of FirstUSA Partners, the exclusive sales and business development arm of First USA Bank, the third largest credit card issuer in the US, now a wholly owned subsidiary of Bank One.
Joseph Pych, President of NextMark, added, “We are excited to bring Venture Capital Fund of New England onto our team. They have extensive experience in both direct marketing and software – an ideal combination for NextMark. In addition, the continued commitment of previous investors is a powerful endorsement of NextMark’s ability to deliver on our vision. This investment will allow us to expand into areas of the direct marketing process that are primed for automation.”
Over 100 companies are today using NextMark’s technology to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of their direct marketing campaigns. The product line currently focuses on technologies for sourcing highly responsive target audiences – the most important element of every direct marketing effort. All products are built on a state-of-the-art, web-based, Java™ enterprise platform. To-date, over 50,000 research sessions and 5,000 marketing projects have been completed using NextMark’s systems.
About Venture Capital Fund of New England
The Venture Capital Fund of New England (“VCFNE”) provides equity capital to emerging growth-oriented companies in the New England area. VCFNE focuses mainly on technology-based enterprises. VCFNE manages a venture capital fund whose investments are anticipated to reach approximately $100 million over the next three years, all targeted toward new, growing companies in New England. For more information, call 781-431-8400.
About CEI Ventures, Inc.
CEI Ventures, Inc. (CVI) was formed to raise, manage and invest socially responsible venture capital funds. Founded in 1994, CVI is a wholly owned subsidiary of Coastal Enterprises, Inc. and now manages two funds, Coastal Ventures Limited Partnership and Coastal Ventures II, LLC. These Funds make equity investments between $100,000-$1,500,000 in growing Maine and national companies exhibiting the potential to generate above-average equity returns over a five to seven-year time horizon while meeting social goals.
About MerchantBanc Venture Partners
MerchantBanc, a Manchester, NH-based venture capital firm, serves the greater New England area outside the Boston-Route 128 corridor by building venture capital marketplaces. For the past ten years, MerchantBanc has been devoted to developing the New Hampshire venture capital market, having contributed an increase in statewide venture investment volume from $28 million in 1996 to over $500 million in 2000, and channeling over $140 million of investment capital into New Hampshire companies through partnerships with institutional investment companies and angel investors. MerchantBanc currently manages a $20 million venture capital fund.
About Litle & Co.
Litle & Company sold its payment processing operations to Bank One (then First USA) in 1995 and since then has been managing the Litle family investments. It has subsequently invested about $60 million in various companies related to the direct marketing industry.