Optaros Receives $7.0 million Series A Investment Round
Open Source Services Leader Attracts Financing from Charles River Ventures and General Catalyst Partners to Build New Services, and Increase Recruiting and Marketing to Large Enterprises
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — March 9, 2005 — Optaros Inc., a leader in open source consulting and systems integration, announced today that it has received $7.0 million in a Series A round of funding from two venture capital firms, Charles River Ventures and General Catalyst Partners. The proceeds will be used to recruit key members of the management team; increase marketing and brand-building activities; create new service offerings; and launch a research program on open source software development.
“We were very pleased with the amount of interest the venture capital community has in open source services, and particularly with the team at Optaros,” said Bob Gett, Optaros CEO and President.
Izhar Armony of Charles River Ventures said several factors led to his firm´s increased investment in Optaros. “In just a few months, Optaros has generated significant market demand for open source services — demand that we originally considered might take longer to generate,” said Armony, a general partner at the Waltham, Mass.-based venture firm. “Secondly, the company has responded to this demand by assembling a world-class team of technology leaders. We feel the timing is perfect for this investment and for Optaros in the marketplace.”
“Large corporations want the dramatic benefits of cost savings and vendor independence that open source provides, but they increasingly want partners to help guide their strategy and deployment,” said Larry Bohn, managing director, General Catalyst Partners. “Optaros is poised to be the premier provider of open source strategy and consulting services for large corporations; they clearly have the best management team and technology vision in the market.”
Bohn, who in the 1990s led two software companies (NetGenesis and PC DOCS) to rapid growth and public stock offerings, will join the Optaros board of directors, of which Armony is already a member.
“We´re very excited to have General Catalyst Partners as a partner,” Gett said. “General Catalyst has a defined strategy for open source-related companies, and Larry is leading those efforts. In addition, he is a very successful and experienced operating executive who brings a wealth of relevant expertise to Optaros.”
Optaros also announced another new member of its board of directors: William Atkins, a retired senior partner at Deloitte Consulting who started, acquired, merged and sold several technology companies at Deloitte. Atkins brings 35 years of professional services experience along with significant operating experience in consulting. He is also the co-author of three books on technology management.
Launched in July 2004, Optaros announced a seed round of funding in December from Charles River Ventures and Gett. Since then, Optaros has hired a number of key members of the management team and has begun project work with three companies.
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