AnyDay Books $8M from Two Venture Firms

AnyDay.com, a Cambridge, Mass.-based developer of online dayplanners and event directories, raised $8 million May 18 in its first round of venture financing.

Softbank Technology Ventures of Newton Center, Mass., and Carlyle Venture Partners of Washington, D.C., co-led the transaction in the 1-year-old company, said Arthur Gehring, director of marketing at AnyDay.

The management team that founded AnyDay, led by Chairman John Landry, responded to a need for Web-based time management software while developing Lotus notes and organizer. In particular, the team is trying to bring the value of the Internet to time management products in three areas – any-time access, sharing with friends and integration with professional and social events.

“The vision was that this could be added to tools being used today, which can’t be shared externally,” Gehring said.

The proceeds from the investment will be spent to improve the company’s Web-based calendaring product. Gehring said the company’s product is in beta testing and the goal is to bring the service live in early June.

Brian Hayhurst, a vice president at Carlyle, said the firm liked AnyDay because it moved a high-value application from the desktop onto the Web.

AnyDay has developed a program that permits users to schedule events on the Internet from any location and plans to design capabilities that allow users to synchronize the events on handheld devices and planners.

Following the offering, AnyDay gave board of directors seats to Hayhurst and Bradley Feld, a general partner at Softbank. The company has no immediate plans for future financings, as Gehring said the next step was dependent on how the product is received and market conditions.