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24/7 Customer Secures $22 Million In Financing
Led By Sequoia Capital
Famed Early Stage Investors in Cisco
and Flextronics Mark Their First India Related Investment With Michael
Moritz Joining the 24/7 Customer Board of Directors
Los Gatos, CA - July 24, 2003 -- 24/7
Customer,a leading provider of outsourced contact center and BPO
services to Global 500 companies, today announced that it secured
$22 million in additional financing. The equity financing was led
by new investor Sequoia Capital along with participation from co-founder
and CEO, P.V. Kannan. In conjunction with the financing, Michael
Moritz of Sequoia Capital joined the company's board of directors.
Mr. Moritz is currently a director of several leading US corporations
including Flextronics (NYSE: FLEX) and Google.
The company will use this funding to pursue key
sales initiatives and global expansion activities inclusive of BPO
acquisitions. 24/7 Customer provides Global 500 firms with outsourcing
services that reduce support and processing costs by 35% to 60%
while improving existing service level performance. 24/7 Customer
currently has 10 loyal Global 500 customers and is profitable.
"I've been a firm believer in outsourcing
since the days of our investment in outsourced manufacturer Flextronics,"
said Michael Moritz, a general partner at Sequoia Capital. "24/7
Customer represents a top notch US firm that has shown its skill
in leveraging global delivery locations to provide Global 500 firms
with unmatched outsourcing service excellence and cost reduction
opportunities. We are proud to put our name behind 24/7 Customer
as it seeks to define and lead this next phase of globalization
via outsourcing."
This investment announcement comes just as 24/7
Customer announced a large multimillion dollar/multiyear contract
with a large European insurance client for the provision of contact
center and back office claims processing services. With this significant
new customer addition, 24/7 Customer is on track to achieve a headcount
of 2,200 by September thus continuing the well over 100% year over
year growth rate experienced to date.
According to P.V. Kannan, CEO of 24/7 Customer,
"We couldn't be more pleased to join hands with Mike and Sequoia
Capital to realize this tremendous outsourced services opportunity.
Our team would prefer no other partner than the one that helped
build such stalwarts as Flextronics, Oracle, Apple and Cisco."
About 24/7 Customer
24/7 Customer is a leading provider of
outsourced contact center and BPO services to Global 500 companies.
With 10 live programs for Global 500 firms, over 2 million live
phone contacts handled per month, an enviable 99.9% service uptime,
and the industry's only performance guarantee, 24/7 Customer has
a proven track record of success. Its multi-channel, outsourced
solutions deliver twice the quality of other alternatives at a lower
cost. 24/7 Customer, which was founded by an experienced management
team with proven expertise in delivering large-scale, mission-critical
customer support programs, maintains corporate headquarters in Los
Gatos, CA (in Silicon Valley), and operations in both Bangalore
and Hyderabad, India. The company's highly skilled and well-educated
eRelationship Officers (eROs) work in teams dedicated to a single
customer's business, enabling 24/7 Customer to bring unprecedented
quality and focus to solving the challenges of even the largest
enterprises. Some of 24/7 Customer's clients include leading Global
500 Insurance, Telecommunications, Financial Services, Hospitality,
Logistics, Retail, and Technology companies. For more information
on the company, please visit www.247customer.com
About Sequoia Capital
Sequoia Capital was formed
in 1972 and has been the founding investor in dozens of companies
including Cisco Systems, Apple Computer, Yahoo!, Linear Technology,
Oracle, NetScreen, Electronic Arts, Microchip Technology, nVidia,
Network Appliance and Vitesse Semiconductor. Sequoia Capital has
financed a variety of other best of breed companies - including
LinkExchange (acquired by Microsoft), eGroups (acquired by Yahoo!),
and PayPal (acquired by eBay). For more information on the company,
please visit www.sequoiacap.com
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