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VistaPrint Closes $52 Million Equity Financing
LEXINGTON, Mass. — 09 November 2004 — VistaPrint, the leading graphic design agency and printer serving the small business and consumer markets, announced today that it has completed a $52 million Series B equity financing round principally led by prominent venture capital firms Highland Capital Partners and HarbourVest Partners. The funding came in two tranches, with $30 million received in August 2003 and $22 million recently received, bringing to a close the total investment of $52 million. Nigel Morris, co-founder and former president and chief operating officer of Capital One Financial Services, also contributed to the financing.VistaPrint is deploying the proceeds primarily for the construction of new, state-of-the-art, computer integrated manufacturing (CIM) facilities in both Europe and North America that will reinforce and enhance the company's demonstrated ability to re-engineer and standardize the manufacturing of short-run, full-color printing. Funding will also be earmarked for technology development, for further international market penetration, and for expansion of service centers necessary to leverage, grow and support VistaPrint's graphic design service agency and its customer support capabilities.
VistaPrint, which has been profitable since mid-2001, has processed more than 6.5 million orders since launching in May 2000 and currently produces more than 10,000 unique print orders per day. The company has experienced a compounded annual growth rate of more than 90% over the past four years and enjoys gross margins that are more than two times greater than the industry average for commercial printers.
"Armed with our patented technology, VistaPrint is revolutionizing the graphic design and short-run, full-color printing industries," stated Robert Keane, chairman, president and chief executive officer of VistaPrint. "We offer our customers free graphic design services and incredibly low prices on high-quality printing, but our gross margins still exceed 50% due to our massive volume and our proprietary workflow automation and software technologies. You can see why Highland Capital Partners and HarbourVest Partners are as confident in our growth prospects as we are."
Paul Maeder, founder and managing general partner of Highland Capital Partners, stated, "We were particularly impressed by VistaPrint's front-to-back-end process integration and automation in a sector that traditionally has been defined by one-off, craft-based processes. They have 'productized' both the graphic design and the manufacturing of short-run, full-color printing and they continue to be the only supplier with the technology and system scalability to serve this huge market in this manner."
About Highland Capital Partners
Highland Capital Partners was founded in 1988 with the mission of helping great people build great companies. Focused on seed, early and growth stage companies in the information technology, communications and healthcare sectors, the firm emphasizes a team-oriented approach in providing the right mix of strategic guidance, hands-on leadership, and deep industry domain expertise for helping entrepreneurs and their teams become market-leading organizations. Highland has invested in and worked to create such firms as Ask Jeeves, Avid Technology, Be Free, CheckFree, EXACT Sciences, Lycos, MapQuest, Ocular Networks, Odyssey Healthcare, Sybase, Telica and WebLine Communications. For more information, visit Highland's web site at http://www.hcp.com/.
About Nigel Morris
Nigel Morris served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Capital One Financial Services from 1994 to 2003. During that time, Capital One achieved sales growth at a compound annual rate of more than 40 percent and as the recipient of numerous corporate and business awards was recognized for its technology, innovation, and entrepreneurial culture. As a frequent and popular guest lecturer in business schools and leadership forums, Nigel is widely recognized for his entrepreneurial skills, his exceptional leadership and his ability to inspire those around him. Nigel currently serves on the Board of Governors of London Business School and the Board of Directors of The Economist and Quanta Capital Holdings.
About VistaPrint
VistaPrint Limited, headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda and with US operations in Lexington, MA, is the leading printer and graphic design agency serving the small business and consumer markets. Through the Internet and VistaPrint's innovative, patented technologies, users in these markets now have a convenient, high-quality, cost-effective solution for short-run, full-color printing and graphic design services. VistaPrint offers a lowest price guarantee on most products and a satisfaction guarantee on all products and services. The company currently operates localized versions of its e-commerce web site in 12 countries and employs 390 people worldwide. For more information please visit http://www.vistaprint.com/.
About HarbourVest
HarbourVest Partners, LLC is an independent global private equity investment firm and registered investment advisor, providing vehicles for institutional investors to invest in the venture capital and buyout markets in the U.S., Europe, and elsewhere through primary partnerships, secondary purchases, and direct investments. HarbourVest and its subsidiaries have 125 employees, including 53 investment professionals, deployed in Boston, London, and Hong Kong. In over 20 years investing limited partners' capital, the team has committed more than $9.8 billion to newly formed funds, representing relationships with 200 private equity managers. The team has also completed over $2.8 billion in purchases of 400 secondary partnership interests, and invested $2.1 billion directly in operating companies. The firm's clients include over 200 pension funds, endowments, foundations, and financial institutions throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, Australia, and Japan. To learn more about HarbourVest visit http://www.harbourvest.com/.
For more information contact:
Melissa Crowe
Phone: 781-577-7220
Email: mcrowe@vistaprint.com
Web: http://www.vistaprint.com/