Brickstream Corporation Closes $9M in Series B Financing
RBC Technology Ventures Leads the Round during Year of Record Growth, New Customer Signings and Further Market Recognition
ATLANTA,GA - August 16, 2004
Brickstream Corporation, a leading provider of customer analytics solutions for retail brick-and-mortar organizations, today announced the closing of $9 million in Series B funding, led by RBC Technology Ventures. The financing follows a $6.2 million Series A round announced in March, 2003, which was led by Columbia Capital and Mohr Davidow Ventures (MDV). All existing investors fully participated in this Series B round of financing. As a result of this financing Paul Greb from RBC Technology Ventures joined Brickstream’s Board of Directors.
Brickstream has maintained significant momentum since securing its Series A financing. Brickstream reported record revenue growth of 300 per cent for 2003, significantly expanded its executive team (including a new CEO) and signed several new Top 100 customers. Brickstream won further market recognition, including winning the Retailer Choice Award for Best New Product at the 2004 FMI Show as well as being recognized as a Red Herring Top 100 Finalist, a prestigious list of the technology industry's top companies.
Brickstream will use the new funds to expand product development and grow its sales and marketing efforts, including the opening of an operation in the United Kingdom.
“Brickstream’s growth is affirmation that retail businesses are making the measurement and improvement of the in-store customer experience a top priority; one that can lead to significant gains in the satisfaction, loyalty, and value of their customers,” said Steve Jeffery, CEO of Brickstream. “This investment will support our market momentum, allowing us to invest in new product and service capabilities, expand our sales activities within North America and the United Kingdom, and increase market awareness.”
“Brickstream's patented technology suite provides retail operators with an unparalleled and never before possible view of in-store customer behavior,” said Kevin Talbot, Vice President of Corporate Ventures and Managing Director at RBC Technology Ventures. “This company has an exciting technology that delivers quantifiable customer return-on-investment and a proven management team who can grow the company exponentially.”
“The company's ability to accelerate acquisition of blue chip customers is the strongest validation of the value enterprises are gaining from the Brickstream solution,” said Arun Gupta, Partner at Columbia Capital. “Brickstream customers view the solution to be a strategic part of their operations.”
“Brickstream offers retail stores, banks and consumer product manufacturers valuable understanding into what's important to consumers so that they can act accordingly,” said Nancy Schoendorf, General Partner at MDV. “The Brickstream System has provided strong return on investment by increasing customer loyalty and sales, primarily through faster and smarter alignment of store-level resources to customer demand.” Brickstream solutions deliver critical insights about the customer experience in retail brick and mortar environments.
Brickstream solutions are powered by the award winning Brickstream System, a powerful suite of software that leverages in-store video technology and patented image understanding software to automatically and anonymously track customer movement in a retail brick-and-mortar environment. The Brickstream System transforms this movement data into actionable insights and delivers it in real-time to decision-makers. Brickstream clients have used these insights to improve customer service quality, develop effective marketing treatments, and design customer-friendly store layouts. By delivering a better retail experience Brickstream customers are achieving significant gains in customer satisfaction, retention, and sales.
About Brickstream
Brickstream sets the standard for a new generation of customer analytics for the brick-and-mortar economy. Brickstream provides the Brickstream System, a closed loop solution that leverages anonymous smart video technology to continuously capture and analyze information about in-store customer activity and the effectiveness of customer interactions, and act on this information in real-time to improve the planning and execution of sales, service, and marketing processes. Developed over a period of nine years, the Brickstream System is protected by numerous patents. Brickstream serves retailers, retail banks, and consumer packaged goods manufacturers throughout North America and Europe. A partial client list includes Bank of America, Lloyds TSB, Royal Bank of Canada, Wells Fargo, SunTrust Bank, Office Depot, CVS Corporation, and Procter & Gamble.
About Columbia Capital
Columbia Capital is a premier private equity firm focused exclusively on the communications and information technology industries, investing in both emerging service providers and innovative, next generation technologies. Columbia Capital has invested in more than 60 communications and technology companies since 1989 and currently manages approximately $1.4 billion. Columbia Capital is located in Alexandria, Virginia. Additional information about Columbia Capital can be found at www.colcap.com.
About Mohr, Davidow Ventures
Mohr, Davidow Ventures (MDV) has built a reputation among entrepreneurs as a partner by taking a hands-on approach to investments and working skillfully to architect and build successful companies. MDV possesses an extended team of experts, including the firm's partners and an active network of seasoned entrepreneurs. Together, they focus on early stage investments while bringing years of real-world experience to accelerate each company's time to market and optimize its long-term success. Industry-leading companies funded by MDV include Agile, Auspex, Brickstream, Brocade, Epigram (BRCM), FormFactor, Ipsilon Networks (NOK), Kalpana (CSCO), Numerical Technologies (SNPS), ONI Systems (CIEN), Pivotal Technologies (BRCM), Rambus and Vitesse. Founded in 1983, MDV has $1 billion under management.
About RBC Technology Ventures
RBC Technology Ventures Inc. is an active investor in early stage venture capital in North America. The firm invests through an extensive network of sector and cluster-based funds in life sciences, engineering and physical sciences, agricultural biotechnology, information technology, and financial services-related infrastructure and technology. RBC Technology Ventures is a member of RBC Financial Group and is headquartered in Toronto with affiliate offices in Montreal, Boston, Atlanta, and Menlo Park.
Contact
Leigh Canavan
Brickstream Corp
404-243-8183
leigh.canavan@brickstream.com
