Round balanced between new and existing investors
PALO ALTO, Calif. (February 3, 2003) — Danger, Inc., provider of the hiptop™ wireless solution, today announced it has secured $35 million in Series D financing. The financing round brought in two prominent new investors, SOFTBANK Capital Partners and Meritech Capital Partners, who represented approximately half of the investment. Existing investors, including Mobius Venture Capital, Redpoint Ventures and Venture Strategy Partners, contributed the remainder. Danger has now raised in excess of $77 million and believes that it will achieve positive cashflow and profitability without additional financing. The new funds will be applied in scaling Danger's business operations to accommodate multiple wireless-carrier customers on a global basis. Danger is currently working with T-Mobile, USA, and has plans to announce additional wireless-carrier customers during 2003.
"We are fortunate to have received a strong response from high-quality investors during this difficult fundraising environment," said Hank Nothhaft, Danger's chairman and chief executive officer. "This investment represents a resounding affirmation of Danger's business model, and what the team has built to date with efficient use of venture capital." Danger still has approximately 25% of its previous funding available.
Danger provides an end-to-end solution to wireless carriers, consisting of back-end infrastructure software, a platform for third-party application development, and a hardware device design and device operating system. Since its last major funding, Danger has brought the hiptop wireless solution to market with T-Mobile, USA. T-Mobile launched the T-Mobile Sidekick, with hiptop technology, nationwide on October 1, 2002. The product has since been embraced by consumers, and received numerous awards and accolades in the press, including Best of CES (PDA, Handheld and Mobile Wireless Category) in 2002, Best Industrial Design at WIRED Magazine's Rave Awards, and Best Products of 2002 (PDA Category) by Handheld Media Group.
"SOFTBANK Capital Partners is pleased to join the prestigious group of investors working with this promising company," said Eric Hippeau, managing partner of SOFTBANK Capital Partners, who led the Series D round. "We are convinced that Danger has the right solution for the new generation of wireless voice/data services. Our extensive experience in Internet based consumer services will help Danger with their development."
"Danger has had phenomenal success with their first commercial launch of the T- Mobile Sidekick," said Greg Galanos, executive managing director, Mobius Venture Capital. "We're very happy to have SOFTBANK and Meritech join the investment syndicate as part of this equity round."
"Danger continues to execute on its vision of enabling new data services for the consumer," said Jeff Brody, partner with Redpoint Ventures. "We are pleased to have supported the company from early product development through its successful product introduction. This financing provides Danger with the capital necessary to scale its customer and partnership base."
About SOFTBANK Capital Partners
SOFTBANK Capital Partners (SBCP) is a late-stage venture fund focusing on mezzanine and post-IPO (PIPE) investments. SBCP seeks to build market leaders by investing in companies with a strong technology bias. In addition to capital, SBCP adds value through its experienced management team, committing strategic resources and leveraging SOFTBANK's global network of companies and partners. SBCP has offices located in Newton, MA and New York, NY.
About Meritech Capital Partners
Meritech Capital Partners is a late-stage venture capital fund that is sponsored by five leading venture firms: Accel Partners, Brentwood Venture Capital, Oak Investment Partners, Redpoint Ventures and Worldview Technology Partners. Meritech is capitalized at $1.8 billion and invests in technology companies with proven technology, market-tested business models and seasoned management teams.
About Mobius Venture Capital
With offices in Mountain View, California and Superior, Colorado, Mobius Venture Capital is a $2.25 billion U.S.-based private equity venture capital firm managed by an unparalleled team of former CEOs and entrepreneurs, technology pioneers, senior executives from major technology corporations, and leaders from the investment banking community. Mobius Venture Capital specializes primarily in early-stage investments in the areas of: communications systems software and services; infrastructure software and services; professional services; enterprise applications; healthcare informatics; consumer and small business applications; components; and emerging technologies. Mobius Venture Capital combines its technology expertise and broad financial assets with the industry's best entrepreneurs to create a powerhouse portfolio of over 100 of the world's leading high technology companies. For more information on the fund's investment team, technology vision and portfolio companies, please visit www.mobiusvc.com.
About Redpoint Ventures
With more than a combined 100+ years operational, industry and technology investing experience, Redpoint Ventures is a leading venture capital firm that funds innovative companies with the potential to lead and change industries. Redpoint has a total of $1.45 billion under management, with investments in more than 60 companies to date. The firm was founded in 1999 by top partners each from Brentwood Venture Capital and Institutional Venture Partners (IVP), two of the top ten Silicon Valley venture firms. Redpoint (www.redpoint.com) is headquartered in Menlo Park, CA with offices in Los Angeles.
About Venture Strategy Partners
Venture Strategy Partners ("VSP"), a San-Francisco based venture capital firm, was founded in late 1996 on the principle that strategic positioning and market development are crucial to the success of all technology businesses, i.e., "good marketing and sales always beat great technology." VSP invests in early-stage best of breed technologies and applies deep expertise in addressing market risk. Their internal and external teams of experts work alongside entrepreneurs to accelerate market development and position a company for long term success. Find out more at www.venturestrategy.com.
About Danger, Inc.
Danger, Inc. provides a complete solution that enables wireless carriers to offer innovative and affordable voice and data products to consumers over next-generation wireless networks. Today, this solution includes: the hiptop™ Data Services Framework—a back-end service delivery infrastructure; the hiptop™ Development Platform—a platform for the development of mobile applications using industry standard development tools; and the hiptop™ Device Design—a hardware design for a wireless all-in-one device, customized and branded by wireless operators. Founded in January 2000, Danger, Inc. is a privately held company backed by leading venture capital firms and corporate investors. Danger is based in Palo Alto, Calif. Additional information about the company is available at www.danger.com.
# # #
Danger and hiptop are trademarks and/or service marks of Danger, Inc. in the United States and in other countries. All other trademarks, service marks, and product names are the property of their respective owners.