NetProspex Secures Investment from Edison Ventures

WALTHAM, Mass., Dec. 8, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- NetProspex Inc., the world's most accurate and fastest-growing Data as a Service (Daas) provider for B-to-B sales and marketing decision makers, today announced that it secured a $5.5 million venture capital financing round led by leading information technology investment firm Edison Ventures.  Previous investors also participated in the round.

The funding will fuel the continued expansion of sales and marketing as well as the existing service offerings which have received acclaim among B-to-B sales and marketing decision makers as the most accurate and targeted contact data in the market today. Over the past year NetProspex has grown its customer base by more than 150 percent, achieved steady quarterly revenue growth, and increased its database to more than 16 million business contacts.

"We are pleased to announce the completion of our funding round with Edison Ventures, which has a long-established track record of elevating emerging companies to the forefront of the technology landscape," said Gary Halliwell, CEO of NetProspex. "We feel that Edison is the ideal partner for us, as they see the massive potential and opportunity that exists in the Data as a Service space, and together, we share the same drive and commitment to delivering a new level of innovation, accuracy, and effectiveness to sales and marketing decision makers in today's environment."

NetProspex plans to enhance its enterprise service offerings, including its trademark CleneStep™ verification process and its recently launched SocialStep™ platform, both of which have become renown for raising the bar on data quality and uniqueness in the sales prospecting world.  NetProspex also plans to utilize the latest round of funding to develop and launch several new products to its suite of services.

"A stellar management team is driving break-out growth in an emerging market," stated Ryan Ziegler, Principal of Edison Ventures.  "Customers and partners praised NetProspex data quality and breadth of contacts," added Tom Vander Schaaff, Vice President, who led Edison's diligence.

This announcement is the first in what is expected to be a series of product enhancements, new launches and continued growth of NetProspex's database and customer base. For more information on NetProspex and to follow the company as it announces upcoming news, please visit: www.NetProspex.com.

About NetProspex

NetProspex is the world's most accurate and fastest-growing sales and marketing database, helping B-to-B decision makers find, reach, and connect with more than 16 million sales prospects in a uniquely direct and measurable way.

Founded in 2006 by online publishing and marketing industry veterans Gary Halliwell and Jeff Clewley, NetProspex understands that effective sales and marketing efforts require the most in-depth and accurate prospect data. The core product line overlays crowd-sourced, user-contributed contact information with proprietary verification technology to produce an entirely unique and highly effective sales and marketing contact database. With a 100% replacement guarantee and continual data scrubbing, NetProspex is the leading source of accurate, crowd-sourced business intelligence.

About Edison Ventures

Established in 1986, Edison partners with entrepreneurs, service providers and other financing sources to build successful companies. Edison provides capital and value-added services to late stage ($5 to 20 million revenue), information technology businesses.  Initial investments range from $5 to 10 million. Edison typically serves as the sole or lead investor.  In addition to providing expansion capital, Edison funds management buyouts, recapitalizations, spinouts and secondary stock purchases.

Edison's investment professionals are based in Lawrenceville, NJ, Needham, MA, New York, NY, and McLean, VA. Industry specialties include interactive marketing, financial technology, healthcare IT application software and communications.  Edison's successes include Axent, E-Transport, Gain Capital, POMS, Princeton Financial, True Commerce, Virtual Edge, Visual Networks and many other information technology leaders, which have a combined market value exceeding $5 billion.  Edison Ventures currently manages over $650 million and is actively making new investments. www.edisonventures.com

SOURCE NetProspex Inc.