SOURCE: Genius.com

February 04, 2008 09:02 ET

Genius.Com Secures $19 Million C Round Investment Led by Accel Partners

Facebook Investor Joins Genius.com Backers Mohr Davidow Ventures, Emergence Capital and Walden International

SAN MATEO, CA--(Marketwire - February 4, 2008) - Genius.com Incorporated®, the leading on demand provider of real-time 1-to-1 marketing solutions for sales and marketing professionals, announced today that it has received $19 million in third-round funding led by Accel Partners. Additional participation came from existing investors Mohr Davidow Ventures, Emergence Capital and Walden International. Genius.com will use the funds to accelerate their product development, marketing and sales initiatives to meet increasing global demand for Genius solutions. The C round investment brings the total amount of Genius venture financing to $34 million.

"What made Genius so attractive from our perspective was the rapid 'bottoms-up' adoption of the service by end users who then recommend the product to their bosses and peers. Genius feels almost like a consumer phenomenon," said Kevin Efrusy, General Partner, Accel Partners. "The days of managers cramming useless products down the throats of subordinates are long gone. The Genius model appears to define the future of the industry."

In a separate release Genius.com also announced telcom giant BT's adoption of SalesGenius to provide priority servicing of their most profitable customers. In addition to the BT selection, Genius.com achieved several major milestones:

--  Experienced 63% growth in month over month recurring revenue
--  Extended quarterly booking by 61% quarter over quarter
--  Enjoyed a 96% increase in product upsells
--  Grew to over 30,000 named users
--  Added over 400 corporate customers
--  Processed over 45 million transactions per month
--  Expanded global customer relationships with the addition of BT,
    EasyLink, Hoover's, LinkedIn, Nexient, Polycom and Vitria Technology
--  Announced key partnerships with Cisco/WebEx, salesforce.com, and many
    others including Tele-Smart Communications, Sales Optimization Group,
    EchoSign, SalesRamp and Demandbase
    

"Adding Accel Partners as our lead for this round speaks volumes about the tremendous success we've achieved to date and the continued market potential for Genius solutions. Companies of all sizes have embraced our products because we enable sales and marketing teams to instantly connect and serve their most interested prospects to close more deals more quickly," said David Thompson, Genius CEO and co-founder. "2007 has been amazing for Genius.com and we plan to leverage this latest round of financing as we take to the global stage in 2008."

About Genius.com

Genius.com®, creator of SalesGenius®, is a Sales 2.0 pioneer and the leading on demand provider of real-time, 1-to-1 marketing solutions for sales and marketing professionals, empowering them to instantly connect with prospects and close deals through their corporate websites.

Genius® solutions give sales and marketing organizations unprecedented control over e-mail and website marketing, delivering real-time e-mail campaign reports to managers and instant e-mail response and website visit alerts to sales reps, all without website programming or IT involvement. Equipped with this information, sales and marketing organizations are better able to reach the right prospects at the right time with the right information. The result is more satisfied customers, faster sales cycles and higher closing percentages.

Genius.com Incorporated is a privately held company, funded by Accel Partners, Emergence Capital, Mohr Davidow Ventures and Walden International, with headquarters in San Mateo, CA. For more information about Genius.com Incorporated visit www.genius.com or e-mail info@genius.com.

About Accel Partners

Accel was established in 1983 with offices in Palo Alto and London, as well as in China via the IDG-Accel partnership. Accel also has a partnership that started in 2000 with Kohlberg, Kravis, & Roberts (KKR) that created the Accel-KKR fund for technology management buyouts. With over $4 billion under management, Accel has helped world-class internet and technology entrepreneurs build over 300 successful companies, many of which have become category-defining enterprises. www.accel.com

Example Accel investments have included: Actuate, Agile Software, Airgo, Arrowpoint, BBN Technologies, BitTorrent, Brightcove, Brightmail, comScore, Facebook, Foundry Networks, Glam Media, Interwoven, JBoss, Kayak, Macromedia, Medio Systems, MetroPCS, Netopia, Northpoint, Omneon Video Networks, PictureTel, Polycom, Portal Software, Realnetworks, Redback, Remedy, Riverbed, SupportSoft, Tellium, Trapeze Networks, UUNet, Veritas, Walmart.com, Webroot, Wily Technology, XenSource and Zimbra, among others.

About MDV -- Mohr Davidow Ventures

MDV -- Mohr Davidow Ventures is a leading early stage venture capital firm investing in entrepreneurs building companies in the areas of energy and materials, information technology, and life sciences. The firm 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. The team brings years of real-world experience to accelerate each company's time to market and optimize its long-term success. Category-leading companies funded by MDV include Agile, Broadbase, Brocade, Epigram, FormFactor, Ipsilon Networks, Kalpana, Nanosolar, ONI Systems, Peppers and Rogers Group (Carlson Marketing), Requisite Technology, Revenue Science, and Shutterfly. Founded in 1983, MDV has $1.4 billion under management. For more information, please visit www.mdv.com.

About Emergence Capital Partners

Emergence Capital Partners is a leading venture capital firm focused on early and growth-stage Technology-Enabled Services investing. The firm's mission is to help build market leading, successful businesses in partnership with great entrepreneurs. Emergence partners have funded and helped build over 25 On-Demand companies, including Salesforce.com, SuccessFactors and Ketera -- more than any other early-stage venture firm. Having assessed thousands of companies in the TES sector, Emergence Capital has developed significant expertise and resources focused on the critical factors of success in the market. For further information, visit www.emergencecap.com or call 650 573-3100.

About Walden International

Walden International ("WI") is a leading international venture capital firm that has been providing investors access to early-stage, cross-border, IT opportunities with the advantage of an unrivaled Pan Asia network since 1987. The firm's funds total over US$1.5 billion in committed capital. WI's network of multi-cultural professionals spans China/ Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and the United States. With over 100 years of combined experience, WI's investment team has funded leading technology companies including Creative Technology, Leadis Technology, SINA, and SMIC. With six offices throughout Asia and the United States, the firm has extensive network relationships with major institutions, Asia governmental entities, strategic investors, and entrepreneurs throughout the Pan Asia region. For information, please visit www.waldenintl.com.