VC-funded start-up takes on MS Sharepoint
Published: 21 Aug 2007 13:33 BST
Fuelled by a round of venture capital, Jive Software is pushing into the corporate technology market with lightweight web collaboration software.
Jive Software, which has been self-funded and profitable until now, is expected next week to announce a $15m (£7.6m) investment from Sequoia Capital.
Jive, perhaps best known for its online forum software, is focusing on its Clearspace product, which it introduced commercially earlier this year.
The software is meant to be a lightweight alternative to more structured document management applications such as Microsoft's SharePoint.
With Clearspace, users can start wikis, write blogs and share documents without significant upfront training, according to the company.
That lightweight, end-user-focused approach to collaboration is starting to attract interest from large companies, according to Dave Hersh, Jive Software's chief executive. "We're getting RFPs [request for proposals] from the CIOs of very large companies," he said. "A lot of it comes down to organisations stuck with too much structure with SharePoint or with blogs and wikis running rampant inside companies that are rarely sanctioned by IT."
The company has about 100 customers for Clearspace, and it will use the venture capital to fund expanded sales and product development.
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