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News & Events > Press Releases > 2007

Contact: Melanie Brenneman  »  DataCert, Inc.  »  (832) 369-6157  »  pr@datacert.com

DataCert Receives $10 Million Investment to Fund Continued Growth

Investment Led by SSM Partners, One of the Largest Private Equity Firms in the Southeast

HOUSTON, June 27, 2007 - DataCert, Inc., the leading provider of corporate legal and IP spend and matter management solutions, announced today that it has secured $10 million in Series E financing led by SSM Partners, a Memphis, Tenn.-based private equity firm.

The financing will support DataCert's strategy to accelerate its market expansion in Europe and increase the adoption of legal spend and matter management technology among Fortune® Global 500 companies. The investment will also help DataCert capitalize on the high-growth potential of spend management technology.

SSM Partners is well known for its savvy in recognizing technology-based entrepreneurial organizations headed by strong management teams. In the past 10 years, SSM Partners ranked the second most active investor among Texas technology companies based on the number of investments.

"DataCert's market leadership in the legal and IP spend space played a critical role in our decision-making process," said Robert Covington, partner of SSM Partners. "That, and DataCert's unique recurring revenue model, convinced us that this was a first-rate opportunity to invest in a driven, results-oriented organization."

"DataCert is the type of company SSM Partners has successfully invested in since its inception," commented Jim Witherington, managing partner of SSM Partners. "It has a strong management team, a solid business plan and the ability to promote its growth through the cultivation of new geographic and vertical markets with its combined technology platform of legal and matter management solutions."

Both Covington and Witherington will participate in an advisory role on DataCert's board of directors. Effective immediately, Witherington will join the board and Covington will serve as a board observer.

"SSM Partners' depth of experience with high-growth technology companies will prove invaluable to our board and DataCert's aggressive expansion plan," stated Eric M. Elfman, president and chief executive officer of DataCert.

DataCert expanded into the European market in 2005. Since the opening of its first Europe-based office in London, DataCert has added offices in Frankfurt and Paris to accommodate its rapid growth and the increasing demand for its legal billing technology. In addition to recently signing Barclays as a client, the European operations are anticipating the addition of several new Fortune® Global 500 clients by year-end.

DataCert has also expanded into new vertical markets, including products aimed for intellectual property spend management. AIMS IP, introduced in 2006, accounted for 14 percent of DataCert's 2006 revenue. Furthermore, DataCert recently announced the acquisition of Corprasoft, Inc., a Dallas-based provider of matter management technology. With this acquisition, in-house counsel will now have a combined solution for both legal spend and matter management. This integrated solution will generate significant value for law departments of large global corporations by lowering costs and efficiently managing case loads and portfolios.

About SSM Partners

SSM Partners has been partnering with talented entrepreneurs to build successful companies since 1990. With a focus on healthcare services and information technology, and technology-enabled business and consumer service companies, SSM Partners invests in growth-stage and early-stage businesses. SSM Partners targets companies with large, high-growth markets and defensible business models.

About DataCert, Inc.

DataCert, Inc. is the largest and fastest-growing supplier of legal and IP spend and matter management solutions. Corporate counsel rely on DataCert's products and services to manage legal activities and provide transparency into outside legal spend. With 72 Fortune® 500 clients and customer connections in 126 countries, DataCert processes in excess of $9 billion of electronic invoicing data on an annualized basis. DataCert is headquartered in Houston with offices in Austin, Dallas, Frankfurt, London and Paris. Visit DataCert at www.datacert.com for more information.


 

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