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 Technology Stocks | CheckFree Holdings Corp. (CKFR), the next Dell, Intel?

To: noiserider who wrote (16529) 10/11/2000 9:19:44 AM From: AugustWest    of 20296   Here, let's chew on this for a little bit... CheckSpace, Inc. Storms Into ePayments Industry With $11 Million First Round Venture Capital Backing SEATTLE, Oct 11, 2000 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- CheckSpace, Inc., the premier ePayments service for small businesses, their vendors, and customers, today announced the Company has secured $11 million in an oversubscribed Series A round of funding. The funding is led by Voyager Capital, a leading Seattle e-business venture firm. The Company also announced that its services are now available nationwide at www.checkspace.com < checkspace.com  >. In only seven months, the Company has built a world class team, developed the first version of the CheckSpace ePayments service, completed testing with over two hundred customers, and raised its first round of funding. Today, the Company emerges with a best-of-breed service and team led by Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Naseem Tuffaha, the former Director of Web Services at Microsoft, and Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer, Balsam Saliba, the Co-Founder and former Chief Technology Officer of TransPoint, who holds twelve issued and pending patents in e-commerce technology. Together they assembled a team with extensive experience building electronic payment solutions, enlisting industry and technology experts from Bank of America, First Data Corporation, TransPoint and Microsoft and an advisory board with experience at Visa, Netscape, Ariba, marchFIRST, First Data and Microsoft. "The CheckSpace team found a glaring need and demonstrated tremendous speed and market savvy in addressing it," said Erik Benson, a partner with Voyager Capital, "Their experience developing world class online payment services for Fortune 500 companies will be invaluable as CheckSpace brings the benefits of ePayments to small businesses. That, combined with Voyager Capital's expertise in business to business e-commerce, makes us confident CheckSpace will become the leader in the ePayment industry." CheckSpace capitalizes on the inefficiencies of paper-based invoice and payment processes, the dramatic growth of small business Internet use, and the emergence of small business-to-small business e-commerce opportunities to solve a problem that small business owners experience on a daily basis: getting paid. "Managing cash flow is one of the most important issues small business owners face. The only thing more valuable to small businesses than time is money," said Naseem Tuffaha. "Our goal is to bring the time and money-saving advantages of ePayments to both brick-and-mortar and e-commerce small businesses. CheckSpace enables small businesses to get paid faster and substantially reduce time spent sending invoices and processing payments." To deliver the highest level of security, CheckSpace uses proven encryption technologies and stringent verification procedures to prevent fraudulent access to members' bank accounts and protect the privacy of their information. Additionally, each CheckSpace member is protected against fraudulent activity by insurance from Lloyd's of London Cyber Liability Protection program. Participating in the Voyager-led first round is Northwest Venture Associates, Kellet Investment Corporation, and Staenberg Venture Partners. Also investing are prominent angel investors with a history of identifying promising market opportunities and helping to grow some of the highest valued Internet businesses, including: Boris Putanec, Co-Founder, Vice President of Corporate Strategy of Ariba, Inc.; K.B. Chandrasekhar, Founder of Exodus Communications, currently Co-Founder, CEO, and Chairman of the Board of Jamcracker, Inc.; Sam Jadallah, Managing Director, Internet Capital Group and former Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Microsoft; Robert Pollan, Managing Director, Internet Capital Group; and Scott Oki, former Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Microsoft. About CheckSpace CheckSpace is the premier ePayments service for small businesses, their vendors, and customers. CheckSpace's secure payment service provides an alternative to paper checks and enables electronic payments between any two parties with email addresses and U.S. bank accounts. By streamlining the payment process and increasing cash flow management efficiency, CheckSpace assists small businesses in making educated financial decisions. Utilizing members' existing bank accounts, CheckSpace offers free memberships, flat transaction fees, and integration into major small business accounting software programs and productivity applications, such as QuickBooks and Microsoft Office. CheckSpace supplies an array of tools, such as the Quick View, that give small businesses better information about their transactions and cash flow. For more information about CheckSpace, or to view the service demonstration, please visit www.checkspace.com < checkspace.com  >. About Voyager Capital Voyager Capital is an e-business venture capital firm. With $265 million under management, Voyager has invested in companies such as Avenue A, CapitalStream, ClearCommerce and Q-Sent. Voyager's focus is on early stage investments with a concentration on business-to-business e-commerce, Internet, and wireless companies. Beyond capital, the firm's managing directors' extensive industry experience in building businesses contributes substantial value to Voyager's portfolio companies. The team brings to portfolio companies more than 55 combined years of venture capital, senior management and business development experience in the information technology (IT) industry. Voyager is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, with an office located in Palo Alto, California. For more information, visit Voyager Capital's Web site at < voyagercapital.com  >. SOURCE CheckSpace, Inc. CONTACT: Daniel P. Mullen of Barokas Public Relations, 206-264-8220, or daniel@barokas.com, for CheckSpace, Inc.; or Brian Riseland of CheckSpace, Inc., 206-839-8621, or brianr@checkspace.com URL: voyagercapital.com  checkspace.com  prnewswire.com  (C) 2000 PR Newswire. All rights reserved. -0- KEYWORD: Washington California INDUSTRY KEYWORD: MLM FIN SUBJECT CODE: FNC *** end of story *** CheckFree Holdings Corp. (CKFR), the next Dell, Intel? | Stock Discussion ForumsShare Recommend | Keep | Reply | Mark as Last Read | Read Replies (1)