Sphera Receives $4 Million in Series D Funding From Leading Venture Capital Firm

anonymous writes "Repeat Investors, JVP, TLCom Capital Partners, Vision Capital, Gemini Israel Funds and Banc of America Capital Partners, Fund Sphera’s Global Business Expansion and Technology Development

BOSTON, November 20, 2003 — Sphera Corporation, the leading global provider of Web hosting automation and management software, today announced that it has secured $4 million in Series D financing to accelerate Sphera’s business development plans. Leading venture capital firms JVP, TLcom Capital Partners, Vision Capital, Gemini Israel Funds and Banc of America Capital Partners are the five repeat investors to finance the round. To date, Sphera has raised over $40 million in venture capital funding since its inception in 1999.

Sphera will utilize the capital to support and build its infrastructure in high-potential markets, strengthen its technology portfolio, increase sales and marketing initiatives, and increase support for its global customers.

According to CEO Michael Gold, who took the helm at Sphera in late July, “Sphera literally puts profit margin back into the hosting category. By moving quickly we can secure our market leadership position and positively impact the future of the hosting industry. Our customers, and investors, recognize that Sphera’s core virtualization, QoS and account-centric provisioning technology have significant market implications and we are now pursuing broader opportunities, including automation of data centers of large hosting providers and telecommunications companies.”

Gold added, “Sphera’s success at raising capital from leading VCs is further validation of our technology, products, world-class employees and the significant market opportunity available.”

“Sphera has performed in accordance with, and in some areas exceeded our expectations to date, a formidable achievement in today’s market,” says Edward J. McCaffrey, Chief Investment Officer of Banc of America Capital Partners. “We are extremely confident that the Sphera team will become a dominant provider and will continue to achieve success and grow in the data center automation and provisioning sace.”

Laurel Bowden, General Partner of JVP, adds, “Sphera’s sales momentum with larger service provider customers and the ability of HostingBusiness Suite to improve the Web hosting industry’s profitability model were significant enticements.” Ms. Bowden continued” Michael Gold’s commitment and ability to take the company to a position of global market leadership strengthened our confidence in Sphera.”

About Sphera

Sphera Corporation is a global leader in Web hosting automation and management software. Sphera provides value to over 100 hosting providers and their resellers through service differentiation, increased operational efficiencies, enhanced customer satisfaction and increased profitability. Sphera's HostingBusiness Suite™, which includes HostingDirector® and ResellerDirector™, delivers immediate ROI by generating new revenue opportunities, slashing costs and winning customer loyalty. Headquartered in Boston, with offices in Denver, London, Tokyo, and Tel Aviv, Israel, Sphera is backed by well-established global venture capital firms including JVP, TLcom Capital Partners, Gemini Israel Funds, Vision Capital and Bank of America. For more information, visit www.sphera.com , or call 1-866-SPHERA-1. ### Sphera, HostingBusiness Suite™ and HostingDirector® are trademarks of Sphera Corporation. Media Contact:
Sandra Fathi
Affect Strategies for Sphera
212-398-9680 x141
sandra@affectstrategies.com"