[Posted on March 31, 2008 - 9:00 AM]
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Vindicia Inc., which makes on-demand payment management software, is announcing Monday that it has secured a $5.6 million Series C round, co-led by Leader Ventures and existing investor DCM and including Symantec Corp. The new investment brings the company's total outside funding to $8.7 million.
"The online ad market has proven itself," CEO Gene Hoffman (pictured) tells Tech Confidential. "What hasn't is how the heck do you sell software and services online?" He points out that the e-commerce structure in place now was designed back in the 1990s for tangible products, such as books.
"Everything changes when you don't have anything shipping, when what you're selling is movies, music, office productivity software and anti-virus software," says Hoffman who as the co-founder of eMusic has had a fair amount of experience selling intangibles online. "What's needed now is a more sophisticated commerce model."
Examples of sophisticated features Vindicia provides include subscription tiers, international currencies and customer notifications. On Monday, Vindicia is unveiling fraud-screening software for online merchants.
The company appears to be doing well. According to Hoffman, its revenues tripled last year, and its customer base doubled. Customers include Symantec, "World of Warcraft" developer Blizzard Entertainment Inc. and Reunion.com. Hoffman plans to use the new funding to expand sales and marketing. - Mary Kathleen Flynn
See May 2006 post on eMusic from Tech Confidential
