Stockholm, Sweden-based output management software company Streamserve today announced an $8m cash injection underpinning ambitious global expansion plans. The financing from London-based venture capitalist, Apax Partners ($6m) and a smaller consortium of private investors is aimed at helping the firm tap the lucrative emerging output management software market.
Output management is a front-end application which formats data from enterprise resource planning systems for fax, internet, email and paper, and manages its distribution to customers and trading partners. The output management software market is worth up to $20bn a year, accounting for 7% to 8% of the total ERP market, claims Jakob Svardstrom, Streamserve’s chief operating officer and European managing director.
Streamserve currently sells its software via partnership deals with enterprise resource planning vendors like SAP AG and Baan Co NV. The fresh funding will go towards recruiting 40 extra sales staff at Streamserve’s US headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina, which is also home to SAP AG and System Software Associates Inc.
At the moment, Streamserve software is bundled with Intentia’s ERP products but the firm is eyeing closer links with major players like SAP and Baan with which, for now, it only has product compatibility. We do not have the corporate blessing of these companies as the preferred solution. It would be interesting to have a closer relationship, said Svardstrom. Michael Risman, assistant director of Apax Partners said that Streamserve would also be making pitches to forge closer ties with US ERP vendors like JD Edwards & Co, SSA, Oracle Corp and PeopleSoft Inc.
Most users currently rely on ERP vendors for output management functionality but many solutions only meet minimum business needs, said Svardstrom. Vendors are currently re-evaluating output management strategy amid customer demand for XML, EDI and fax-based data formats and are open to deals with third-party providers, to avoid development costs, he said. Streamserve aims to consolidate its 150% yearly growth rate since starting up in 1995 and post an end-of-year profit of $20m.
