Toronto, ON -- Webhelp, a leading developer and provider of customer support technology and
services, has obtained a $4.7MM secured venture loan from GATX/MM Venture Partners
with $3.9 million available immediately and the remainder upon achieving certain
milestones. This financing brings the total capital raised by Webhelp since
1999 to over $100MM.
Webhelp, founded in 1999, currently provides outsourced customer support services
for North American and European-based Global 1000 companies in seven languages
from sixteen contact centers in countries that include Canada, Mexico, Romania,
Morocco, India, Sri Lanka and The Philippines. Webhelp's ARENA suite of solutions
offers customers the most cost effective and efficient outsourcing alternative
available today. Webhelp was chosen as Canada's Hottest Start-up by PROFIT Magazine
in 2002, achieving a two-year growth rate of almost 21,000%.
"GATX/MM Venture Partners industry expertise and high value-add relationships
with their portfolio companies make them an ideal investment partner for Webhelp,"
said Kerry Adler, CEO of Webhelp. "We are really excited to have them on
our team as we continue to implement our strategy of enabling Global 1000 enterprises
to maximize their efficiency of customer lifecycle management. This partnership
will allow Webhelp to continue product innovation and strengthen its market
leading position within the BPO sector."
"We were impressed by the high quality management team, the ARENA suite
of solutions and the range of services offered by Webhelp to its World class
list of customers" said Amit De, Senior Vice President, MM Venture Partners.
"Given the rapid growth taking place in offshore outsourcing, we look forward
to Webhelp becoming a dominant player in this rapidly emerging market".
About Webhelp Inc.
Webhelp is a developer of innovative customer support technology and offshore
business process outsourcing (BPO) solutions that enable Global 1000 organizations
to reduce their operating costs, increase revenues and improve customer satisfaction.
Webhelp's integrated BPO solutions include multi-channel telephone and online
customer support, order management, new account activation, data entry and processing,
warranty management, CRM and loyalty program services. Its industry leading
ARENA CRM technology platform offers a broad set of customer communication and
data management applications to corporate clients including Microsoft, Rogers
and AOL. Webhelp's technology offerings include Web-based chat, Voice over IP,
e-mail management, remote help desk, data transcription, self-service and wireless
customer support applications. Webhelp is privately held with executive offices
in Toronto, Canada and additional locations in North America and Europe. For
further information please visit www.webhelp.com
About GATX/MM Venture Partners
The GATX/MM Venture Finance Partnership is a privately held, venture-debt fund
that focuses exclusively on private technology companies in Canada. The Partnership
focuses specifically on Canadian information technology and biotechnology companies.
The partnership comprises MM Venture Partners, founded in 1998 in Toronto, and
GATX Venture Finance Canada. GATX Venture Finance Canada is a unit of GATX Financial
Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of GATX Corporation (NYSE: GMT). For
further information please visit www.mmvp.com
and www.gatx.com.
For more information, please contact:
Webhelp Inc.
Doug Stansbury, Controller, Vice President, Finance & Accounting
Phone: 416-932-6530
doug.stansbury@webhelp.com
MM Venture Partners
Amit De, Sr. Vice President
Tel: 416-977-9718
amitde@mmvp.com