Press Release
CrowdEngineering Closes $4 Million Series A Round
Catania, Italy and Sunnyvale, CA - May 3, 2011 - CrowdEngineering (www.crowdengineering.com), the leading provider of crowdsourced Social CRM and enterprise-class crowdsourcing solutions, announced that it has closed a $4 million Series A round co-led by Quantica SGR and Digital Investments SCA SICAR.
CrowdEngineering was founded in 2009 with the goal of providing enterprises with an easy access to crowdsourcing services, as the involvement and management of large web communities in business collaboration has now demonstrated its ability to bring significant cost savings and improved effectiveness in the services provided.
As a matter of fact, CrowdEngineering CRM solutions have "socialized" (i.e. "made social") some customer-facing business processes, involving clients themselves, prospects and the company staff in collaborative activities aimed at customer retention and loyalty.
During 2010 CrowdForce - the open and flexible technology platform from which are derived all CrowdEngineering software products, seamlessly integrated with leading ERP and CRM applications - has been awarded prestigious international recognitions by industry analysts, such as "Cool Vendor in Social Software and Collaboration "by Gartner and "Company to Watch in Social CRM" by Altimeter.
Gioacchino La Vecchia, founder of CrowdEngineering, says: "Thanks to the determination of our team and the initial support of dPixel, in only two years we were able to create a solution that has immediately been appreciated and internationally acknowledged as one of the most advanced and comprehensive in the new emerging Social CRM market". And he goes on: "With the funds raised recently, we aim to go even further: on the one hand, by increasing our market penetration in regions where we operate, like the Italian and U.S. markets; on the other, by expanding our presence in other European and American markets which are interesting for our business. Last but not least, we will continue to promote and accelerate product development to ensure we can meet the increasing needs of our present and future clients."
The Board of Directors of the Company has also been renewed with the entry of new members, and is now composed by Gioacchino La Vecchia (President and Chief Executive Officer), Michele Costabile (Deputy President) and Gianluca Dettori (Advisor). Massimo Piccioni, co-founder of the company, will stay on as Chief Technology Officer.
Michele Costabile, Managing Director of Quantica SGR and a recognised expert in CRM management models both from an academic and business point of view, adds: "We are proud to have invested in an innovative project, born in Southern Italy, which matches the most advanced and relevant trends in the relationship between businesses and their customer base, and has taken advantage of the Italian Government.s investment in Digital and Technological Innovation. Through the solutions developed by CrowdEngineering, customers, employees and external collaborators alike can become an asset of increasing value for the enterprise adopting them. "
Gianluca Dettori, President of dPixel and an expert in digital issues and businesses, said: "We immediately believed in Gioacchino La Vecchia and Massimo Piccioni's vision and ability to develop an innovative, almost revolutionary project: they have found a web 2.0-enabled way to manage the relationship between businesses, their customers and their employees. Their team must be acknowledged to have achieved significant and competitive results within a short timeframe, with limited financial resources. "
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CrowdEngineering is a company of Italian origin, operating in the Social CRM (Customer Relationship Management) arena in Europe and the U.S.A. Its innovative technology platform, CrowdForce, has already been acknowledged as one of the most complete and innovative in the industry both by the market as well as by analysts. CrowdForce enables an enterprise.s customer base and its web community to become valuable collaborators, a workforce who can be involved in various business processes such as customer support, sales and marketing, the three cornerstones of Social CRM. CrowdEngineering is supporting a number of companies in the fields of Telecommunications, Media, Finance and Public Administration to design and implement their Social CRM strategy.
Quantica Sgr is a company dedicated to venture capital investments in start-ups and early stage companies. Quantica operates through two closed-end funds, known as "Principia" and "Principia II", with a total budget of about . 90 million. The Principia II fund, which invested in CrowdEngineering, has a budget of more than . 63 million, of which 50% underwritten by the DIT, the Department for Digitisation and Technological Innovation of the Ministry of Public Administration and Innovation. The investment objective is to support innovation in processes or products through increasingly pervasive digital technologies.
Digital Investments S.C.A. SICAR is a multicompartment investment company incorporated under Luxembourg law and specializing in investment in start-up and early stage companies. The investment objective of the recently established .Seed Compartment., is to support business ideas with a high level of innovation in processes and products. The areas of investment are the Internet and digital media, mobile, web application and software. dPixel, a consulting firm specializing in technology venture capital, is the Advisor of Digital Investments SCA SICAR "Seed Compartment" and of Telecom Italia "Working Capital" project. Due to its structure and its network, dPixel has the ability to manage a dealflow of high quality and quantity throughout Italy as well as internationally.
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For more information please contact: media.relations@crowdengineering.com