WBT Systems secures $5m investment cash from 3i

Venture capital firm, 3i, has invested almost $5 million (€4.63 million) in an Irish software company which develops training and education products that operate over the Internet.

The investment is part of a second round financing agreement worth $6 million for WBT Systems which has offices in Dublin, Boston and San Francisco. Existing investors are providing just over $1 million and the funding will be used to expand the company's sales and support activities, according to Mr Duncan Lennox, WBT co-founder and chief technology officer.

This brings to $10 million the level of investment attracted to the company which received early investment from Delta Partners.

The 3i stake was yesterday described as a "minority share" by Mr Lennox, who declined to indicate a percentage holding for the venture company. The funding would support marketing and sales efforts. The deal was agreed in late December, 1998, he said, but was only announced yesterday.

Since then employment in the US and Ireland had risen from 40 to 52, he said, with another 18 people to be hired within four months. WBT also announced the appointment of its first outside board member, Mr Patrick Brazel, former president of SunGard Capital Markets.

WBT Systems was established in Dublin in 1995 and began life as a UCD campus company. It developed a suite of software that manages distance learning and education provided over the Internet by client companies.

It has 500 customer sites for its TopClass product including Dow Chemical, State University of New York, University College, Dublin, and University of London-Queen Mary & Westfield College. The funding will be used to develop its sales staff in the US and Europe and to grow the company's development staff in Dublin, Mr Lennox said. "The emphasis is really on expanding the sales force."

The appointment of Mr Brazel would appear to fit in with the company's expansion plans as he has considerable experience in growing young technology companies. He spent 11 years with SunGard Data Systems which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, during which time the company went from 25 to 250 employees and 14 world offices were opened, according to WBT.

3i is one of Europe's largest venture capital companies and has invested more than £9.5 billion (€12.06 billion) in 13,000 companies, with a current portfolio of more than 3,200 companies. It is a FTSE 100 company.

"As one of the largest venture capital firms in the world, 3i's investment is a powerful endorsement of WBT Systems' technology, vision and management team," stated Mr Paul Kenny, president and CEO of WBT Systems.

Web-based training was "a new, exciting market which is growing rapidly and the company is in the right place at the right time to take advantage of its leading position", according to Mr Stuart Chapman, who co-ordinated the investment for the technology group at 3i in London.