Index Stock Imagery Closes Additional Funding
Capital Restructuring Simplifies Ownership and Eliminates Debt
NEW YORK--May 29, 2002--Index Stock Imagery, announced today it has successfully closed a new round of funding.
The round was led by Meridian Venture Partners, a private equity firm based in Radnor, PA. Seven of Index's other previous investors participated in the round, including Pennsylvania-based SCP Private Equity Partners, Jonathan S. Greenwald of Interactive Capital, Inc., private investor Charles Brickman, and an affiliate of San Francisco-based Draper Fisher Jurvetson. Even more important than the funding, the Company's shareholders agreed to restructure its ownership. This restructuring collapsed seven previous rounds of preferred stock into just two classes and eliminated all outstanding debt. Combined with the dramatic turnaround in the Company's operating performance, the restructuring positions the Company for renewed future growth.
"We are lucky that we have good investors and a fundamentally sound business," says Bahar Gidwani, Index's CEO. "We have watched with dismay as other promising companies failed during last year's downturn." Robert E Brown, Jr., Managing General Partner at Meridian added, "Over the last eighteen months, Index rebuilt each part of its business system and showed that it has a great future. Management clearly proved that they deserve our support and confidence."
About Index
Index Stock Imagery has developed a unique system for archiving and marketing still images. It introduced the first on-line image marketing system in 1994 and the first fully e-commerce enabled site for licensing images in 1997. After receiving its first major round of venture funding in 1998, Index grew rapidly through acquisition of thirteen existing traditional image marketing companies to become one of the top ten companies in its industry. Index's Web sites host more than 650,000 high quality images and 2.4 million pieces of Web and presentation graphics. Its Index Stock brand serves 28,000 U.S. customers and another 20,000 foreign customers in 50 countries. Its Photos To Go and Web Spice brands serve more than 100,000 small businesses, web designers, and consumers. For further information on Index, please see www.indexstock.com; www.photostogo.com; and www.webspice.com.
Index Stock Imagery, PhotosToGo, and WebSpice are registered trademarks of Index Stock Imagery. All rights reserved.
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[Hint form Phototalk: see also VC watch:
• Index Stock Imagery received $4.5 million, allowing it to close its $20 million mezzanine round. The New York-based company, however, was given a value by its investors that was more than 50 percent below its previous round, Chief Executive Bahar Gidwani said. Index Stock Imagery, which has raised a total of $30 million, received its latest investment from previous investors Meridian Venture Partners, J.W. Seligman, SCP Venture Partners, Polaris Fund, and Harbour Capital. The company has more than 3 million photos, graphics and other images on its Web sites from more than 1,700 artists.]
