Press Releases in 2000
CDC Solutions
ICON secure £2m from leading VCs 3i and Quester
January 2000
CDC Solutions is identified as a prospect for fast growth and successfully secures new funding from 3i and Quester
Leading technology investors, 3i and Quester have injected £2 million further funding into the UK and USA based CDC Solutions (formerly known as Computerised Document Control Limited)
CDC Solutions is satisfying the increasing demand for customised documents on request and on-line. The company designs, develops and sells advanced document publishing software products to enable the assembly, dissemination and distribution of critical business documents. As a global leader in document publishing systems, CDC Solutions has established a significant customer base in Pharmaceuticals, Finance and Utilities markets. Industry giants such as R R Donnelley, UCB Pharma and Entergy are using CDC's products to publish vast quantities of documentation to achieve improved productivity, reduced costs and reduced time to market.
This investment from Quester, a specialist technology venture capital investment company and 3i Europe's leading venture capital company, is clear evidence of the confidence in CDC Solutions' product range and management skills. The potentially explosive growth of the Web publishing market, where CDC Solutions offers an innovative 'Customised Documents on Demand' solution, provides further evidence of CDC Solutions growth potential over the next few years.
Dave Cornwell, CEO at CDC Solutions, commented: "The rapid and continuous growth of the use of the Internet and the increasing desire for customised and professional documents through this channel provides significant opportunities for CDC. CDC Solutions is built on a strong business foundation with an excellent track record and high calibre client base. Having already successfully launched in the US, now with this funding from 3i and Quester we will be able to meet the demand for our products from a rapidly expanding customer base."
Mike Reid of 3i's Technology Group added: "Drawing professional customised literature from company databases over the Internet is not easy. CDC Solutions has proven technology with major blue-chips. We are very excited by its potential."
Jeremy Milne of Quester said: "Document publishing online is a hot area in the electronic age. CDC Solutions has built an enviable reputation in the exacting environment of pharmaceutical regulatory submissions and its core technological skills of publishing 'on the fly' from dynamic databases using current PDF technologies but potentially migrating to XML will make CDC Solutions a very valuable enterprise in the future. CDC Solutions represents a typical high quality Internet enabling technology investment for the Quester funds."
Jeremy Milne joins the Board of CDC Solutions which includes Bill Passmore as non-executive chairman, former head of Sun Microsystems Europe and current Board member of quoted technology and services businesses Guardian IT and Morse Group.
Alan Bristow of ICON Corporate Finance advised CDC Solutions on the fundraising. Burges Salmon in Bristol provided legal advice for CDC Solutions, while Osborne Clarke legally advised 3i.
About CDC Solutions
CDC Solutions designs, develops and sells advanced
document publishing software products to enable the
assembly, dissemination, and distribution of critical
business documents. CDC's EZsubs™ publishing
suite provides a scaleable, modular publishing solution
for paper and electronic regulatory submissions, financial
reporting, engineering proposals and other multi-part
documents.
CDC Solutions is a UK and US based company offering advanced document publishing and control software products to the Document Systems and Intranet markets. Its software products are in use by leading Pharmaceutical, Aerospace, Chemical & Utility companies and Financial Institutions both in Europe and the USA.
About 3i
3i is Europe's leading venture capital company. At
30 September 1999, 3i's technology portfolio was valued
at £1.1 billion and comprised over 600 businesses,
representing 24.2% of 3i's total portfolio.
The Group invests in ambitious, growing businesses in all sectors. It provides funding for growth, recovery, management buy-outs and management buy-ins. Almost 1,000 companies from 3i's portfolio have achieved a stock market listing.
In the UK 3i (including its co-investment funds) backed over half (54%) of all high tech companies that received funding in 1998, and provided almost one third of total high tech funding (Source: BVCA statistics for 1998).
Overall, 3i has invested almost £11 billion in over 13,200 businesses and currently has a portfolio of investments in almost 3,000 companies, with a combined valuation of more than £4.7 billion.
About Quester
Quester is an independent venture capital firm, investing
funds raised from institutions and individuals in unquoted
companies. Both its institutional funds and its venture
capital trusts, Quester VCT and Quester VCT2, have
strong track records and focus particularly on growth
companies in sectors such as information technology,
software, telecoms, new media, leisure, healthcare,
and life sciences.
Quester has over £120 million under management. The company was founded in 1984 by Andrew Holmes and John Spooner.
