Round Led by Shasta Ventures and Lehman Brothers Venture Partners Customer Base Triples in Just Three Months
(San Francisco, Calif. — Oct. 28, 2008) — Zuora, Inc., the fastest-growing on-demand subscription billing and payment service, today announced its Series B funding of $15 million. Shasta Ventures and Lehman Brothers Venture Partners led the round. Zuora’s existing investors, Benchmark Capital and Marc Benioff, also participated. Zuora’s total funding to date is $21.5 million. Founded by Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) industry veterans from salesforce.com and WebEx, it is Zuora’s mission to revolutionize the online subscription industry. The current funding will help to fuel the company’s rapid growth, including customer acquisition and new product development.
“At Shasta, we’re committed to supporting the innovation and the immense potential of startups, even through this macroeconomic environment,” said Jason Pressman, managing director, Shasta Ventures. “Zuora hits a sweet spot in the on-demand market and we’re confident the company will continue to rise above the competition and establish itself as the standard in online subscription billing and payment systems”
In concert with the funding, Pressman joins the Zuora Board of Directors. Prior to Shasta Ventures, he was the fourth employee at Walmart.com, where he was Vice President of Strategy, Business Development and Operations. Zuora’s other board members are Scott Thompson, president of PayPal, Peter Fenton of Benchmark Capital, Tien Tzuo, CEO of Zuora, and K.V. Rao, president of Zuora.
“Our vision is to build the PayPal for the subscription world, so that our customers can focus on their core business, not on their infrastructure. As such, Zuora is the only company able to meet the growing demand for a SaaS solution that addresses the entire, recurring billing and payments life cycle,” said Tien Tzuo, CEO, Zuora. “The Series B round ensures that we can maintain our rate of growth and momentum and continue our quest to be the gold standard in this market.”
Zuora launched its first product, Z-Billing, in May 2008. Z-Billing is the first billing application designed specifically for subscription companies, giving them the flexibility and power to create, manage and grow their business. Earlier this month, Zuora launched its second product, Z-Payments. Z-Payments is a complete payment solution built for subscription businesses and includes the ability to accept PayPal payments. In just six months, more than 45 customers have selected Zuora, including Cloud9 Analytics, Marketo, and Box.net.
About Zuora, Inc.
Zuora is the fastest-growing on-demand subscription billing and payment service. The Zuora platform changes the way subscription businesses manage and sell to customers and allows them to bring new products to market in less time, with less hassle. Zuora is built from the ground up by SaaS industry visionaries and veterans from salesforce.com, WebEx, Accenture, Postini (now Google), and Oracle. The company is based in Redwood City, California. To learn more about Zuora, please visit zuorainternprd.wpengine.com.
About Shasta Ventures
Shasta Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm investing in technology-enabled businesses serving consumers and enterprises. Located in Menlo Park, California, Shasta Ventures has $460 million under management. Shasta was formed in 2004 by venture capital veterans and has made 30 investments to date across consumer and business services, infrastructure and software. For more information on Shasta Ventures, please visit www.shastaventures.com.
About Lehman Brothers Venture Partners
Lehman Brothers Venture Partners currently manages more than $1.1 billion in committed capital to date, with $717 million invested in over 84 portfolio companies across a diverse range of industries and geographies. Lehman Brothers Venture Partners closed its most recent fund, Lehman Brothers Venture Partners V, L.P. in September 2007, with $365 million in committed capital. Lehman Brothers Venture Partners maintains offices in New York, Boston and Silicon Valley. For more information visit www.lehman.com.