Press Releases

Arena Solutions Announces $15 Million Financing Round

On-demand product lifecycle management software leader to accelerate company growth in response to increased demand for PLM

MENLO PARK, Calif., April 26, 2005 — Arena Solutions, the leading provider of on-demand product lifecycle management software for mid-sized manufacturers, today announced that it has secured $15 million in funding. With this round, led by BA Venture Partners, and including investments from Otter Capital, Arthur Rock and Warren Hellman, Arena Solutions is entering a period of accelerated company growth in response to the aggressive adoption of PLM enabled by on-demand. Increasingly, Arena’s on-demand solution is capturing the interest of larger organizations such as Intuit and Align Technology, in addition to companies in the mid-market.

“The on-demand service model is the future of software,” said Rory O’Driscoll, managing director, BA Venture Partners (BAVP). “Arena Solutions demonstrates how this business model energizes an entire business category and changes the playing field. By providing an unprecedented level of real-time collaboration and extending the original promise of product lifecycle management from managing assets within an organization to something much more compelling, Arena is able to directly impact an underserved market of mid-sized manufacturers and emerge as a leader in this developing industry. BAVP has been impressed by Arena’s growth in recent years and looks forward to helping the company continue to gain market traction,” added O’Driscoll. With this announcement, O’Driscoll joins the Arena Solutions Board of Directors.

Arena Solutions enables manufacturing companies to share - in real time - a single version of the product record, facilitating design and engineering collaboration in diverse industries such as high tech electronics, medical devices and consumer products. By providing an easy-to-use application that can be accessed on-demand, everyone in the global outsourced supply chain - throughout the OEM as well as contract manufacturers, outsourced designers and suppliers - are able to work more efficiently, speed time-to-market, and more capably address market pressures. Because Arena PLM is an on-demand service, new features and innovations are continuously made available to users, unlike traditional PLM.

“I’m very pleased to have Rory O’Driscoll and BA Venture Partners working with us to build a great company. Their expertise in growing software as a service companies will help to round out the outstanding leadership team we have at Arena Solutions. It’s an honor to be in the BA Venture Partners portfolio,” said Martin Huml, chairman of the board for Arena Solutions. “Our tremendous growth over the past five years is nothing compared to what we’ll experience in the coming years. We have the right business model, an outstanding team, customers that love our solution and now we have the resources needed to fully take advantage of this opportunity. I’m very excited about the prospects for the company.”

“This round of funding is a clear validation of our focused strategy, execution and constant innovation of our offering,” said Michael Topolovac, chief executive officer of Arena Solutions. “We have worked with a wide range of manufacturers who use Arena PLM to resolve challenges across the product lifecycle while eliminating the risk, cost and complexity of working with traditional PLM solutions. Arena Solutions is strong and getting stronger, and with this round of funding we have additional resources to continue to enhance our offering and amplify our sales and marketing efforts to further expand our footprint - beyond our 200 satisfied customers - in existing and new markets.”

About BA Venture Partners
BA Venture Partners is a premier venture firm that provides development capital to accelerate market traction for technology and life sciences companies who want to become market leaders. BAVP adds value by building management teams, identifying optimal markets or business models and assisting with manufacturing, sales and distribution. Since the firm’s founding in 1995 it has helped a myriad of companies including Ageia Technologies, Alimera, Cardiac Pathways, Monolithic Power Systems, Placeware, Sorrent, Spinal Kinetics and Wayport. Bank of America is the firm’s sole limited partner. For more information please link to: www.baventurepartners.com

About Arena Solutions
Arena Solutions is the leading provider of on–demand (SaaS) product lifecycle management solutions for manufacturing companies of all sizes. As the only true on–demand, secure Internet–based PLM service, Arena PLM provides a superior alternative to complicated, lengthy and expensive traditional PLM software deployments. Through its award–winning service, Arena enables product manufacturers and their global supply chains to streamline outsourcing, improve operational efficiencies, and speed time–to–market. Arena PLM has been adopted by more than 15,000 users across companies at all stages of development, including industry leaders Foundry Networks, Color Kinetics, Intuit, Sierra Wireless, Align Technology and more.

Arena Solutions’ market–changing approach to PLM has received significant recognition in the industry, including Manufacturing Business Technology’s Top 40 Emerging Vendors, the Supply & Demand Chain Executive 100, Industry Week’s “Technology of the Year – Notable Innovators” and Start Magazine’s “Hottest” Companies.

Founded in February 2000, Arena Solutions is headquartered in Foster City, California. For more information, please visit the company’s website at www.arenasolutions.com.

Contact:
Cindi Goodsell
cgoodsell@arenasolutions.com
1.510.479.9015

Millessa Davis
media@arenasolutions.com
1.650.513.3509

Arena PLM is a trademark of Arena Solutions, Inc. Other product and company names are the property of their respective holders.