Mzinga Raises $32.5 Million

Mzinga Inc., a Burlington, Mass.-based provider of white-label social networks, has raised $32.5 million in new funding. W Capital Partners led the round, and was joined by Bluecrest Capital Finance, GE Equity, Knowledge Industries and company management. Part of the proceeds were used to acquire Littleton, Mass.-based competitor Prospero Technologies.

PRESS RELEASE

Mzinga (www.mzinga.com), the leader in workplace and customer community solutions, today announced it has secured $32.5 million in a new round of financing. Mzinga plans to use this new funding to accelerate product development in response to increased demand, expand into new market segments, and increase sales and marketing investments.

In support of these goals, a portion of the proceeds is being used to finance Mzinga’s recent acquisition of Prospero Technologies, a Massachusetts-based social media provider with a strong client base in the media, entertainment, and publishing sectors. [Please see related press release, Mzinga Acquires Prospero, Solidifying Market Leadership in Business Social Media.]

The acquisition establishes Mzinga as the clear market leader over an array of niche providers. Offering an unparalleled combination of best-in-class social media technologies, rich domain expertise, and moderation services, Mzinga is focused on improving business processes for marketing, human resources, and customer service professionals.

“Securing a round of funding of this magnitude is indicative of the significant market opportunity and increasing demand for business social media solutions that address the needs of the enterprise,” said Barry Libert, Mzinga’s Chairman. “It validates the caliber of our team and solution set, as well as our strategy of delivering tangible bottom line results to business, through what we call ‘pervasive community.'”

Generating more than $30 million in annual revenues, Mzinga has more than 125 enterprise customers, and services 1 billion page requests per month from 27 million users in 160 countries worldwide. The company’s marquee client roster is a testament to its credibility and success, and includes such notable enterprises as ABC, AOL, ESPN, CBS.com, iVillage, Chevron Corporation, Johnson & Johnson, Marsh, Inc., Mercer, Prudential Financial, Deutsche Post World Net, United Nations Development Programme, and Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation.

The growth round of funding was led by W Capital Partners, a private equity firm with more than $1.0 billion of committed capital under management. Also participating in the round are institutional investors Bluecrest Capital Finance, LP, GE Equity, and Knowledge Industries, as well as members of the management team.

“We are witnessing a shift toward integrating social media into business processes to drive revenue and customer loyalty,” said Robert Migliorino, Managing Director of W Capital Partners. “Social media represents an enormous opportunity within the market at large, and Mzinga is able to deliver this functionality to enterprises seeking to improve their core business processes.”

About Mzinga

Mzinga is the leading provider of business social media solutions to drive growth, innovation, and learning. Its combination of highly scalable technology, rich domain expertise, and moderation services enables businesses to harness the collective intelligence of employees, customers, and partners to achieve tangible business results. Marketing, customer service, and human resources professionals deploy Mzinga’s “pervasive community” solutions to achieve higher revenues, lower costs, and greater workplace satisfaction.

Mzinga, whose name means “beehive” in Swahili, is headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts, and is generating more than $30M in revenue with 150 employees. With 14,000 communities under management, Mzinga services more than 1 billion monthly page requests from 27 million users in 160 countries worldwide.

Mzinga’s marquee list of customers includes such global brands as ABC, AOL, ESPN, CBS.com, iVillage, Chevron Corporation, Johnson & Johnson, Marsh, Inc., Mercer, Prudential Financial, Deutsche Post World Net, United Nations Development Programme, and Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation. For additional information, visit http://www.mzinga.com/pr/

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About BlueCrest Capital Finance, L.P.
BlueCrest Capital Finance, L.P., a US based commercial finance company, provides debt financing solutions to development stage companies in a broad range of industry sectors including IT, Communications, Hardware, Software, Semi-Conductor, Electronics, Energy, Medical Device and Life Science. The team, which has been together continuously since 1998, pursues debt transactions in the $1-25 million range and has consummated approximately 800 transactions with total commitments in excess of $1.8 billion.

About W Capital Partners
With more than $1 billion of committed capital under management, over 50 completed portfolio transactions, and investments in more than 150 companies, W Capital is the largest firm dedicated exclusively to the acquisition of direct private equity investments in the secondary market.