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Creo Increases Investment In printCafe
BURNABY, CANADA—Creo Products has completed a $62.5 million investment in printCafe in a private placement. Creo invested $32 million in a combination of cash and stock. The net proceeds from this offering will be used to repay outstanding debt, for working capital and for general corporate purposes.
"This is a strategic investment for Creo. We believe that printCafe is the only integrated e-commerce and e-production solution in the printing industry that provides value to print buyers, printers and print industry suppliers," says Mark Dance, executive vice president, Creo Products, and president of CreoScitex. "printCafe's products are an important part of our digital solutions and we look forward to continuing to sell printCafe's services through our sales force."
Existing and new investors participated in the private placement. Two new investors include HarbourVest Partners of Boston and Weiss, Peck & Greer. Existing investor Mellon Ventures also participated in the private placement. Initially, CreoScitex had backed the formation of printCafe in February of 1999.
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The Graphic Systems Div. of Fuji Photo Film USA has announced the development of an online Fujifilm Solution Center. The online solution center will consist of an e-catalog of products and consumables supported and hosted by GOprinter.com. The e-catalog will include a complete listing of all the products and consumables offered by Fujifilm's Graphic Systems Division. The site will also include an electronic imaging equipment configurator, which assists dealers and customers in determining what components are required for the configuration and installation of each piece of equipment.
Digital Art Exchange (DAX) has added DAX iSeries VPN to its managed Internet solutions product line. The DAX VPN solution combines all the benefits of private network solutions, which include security and performance, with all of the features of a Tier-1 Internet connection. The DAX iSeries VPN targets growing companies that want security and performance at a low, fixed monthly cost.
Mail-Well has partnered with printCafe and Sprockets.com to provide the technology backbone for its new e-business solution PRINTMAILWELL.com. PRINTMAILWELL.com is intended to be a tool that enables end-to-end online print management from design through delivery and invoicing.
J. Carter Beese has been elected to printCafe's board of directors. Beese is president of Riggs Capital Partners and vice chairman of Riggs & Co. He is responsible for all aspects of Riggs Capital Partners' venture capital fund allocation.
PrintNation.com has created an online outlet for first-quality printing paper, supplies and equipment. The outlet—which will offer major discounts off original retail prices—will feature a regularly changing inventory of products from industry manufacturers. The outlet will be a way for printers to save money on a wide variety of paper, supplies and equipment. The outlet grew from both printers' and manufacturers' desire for a convenient marketplace to buy and sell first-quality goods.
Printable.com has partnered with Banta Integrated Media to incorporate the Banta DataMerge and copyfitting technologies into Printable.com's PrintFusion product line. Using the online automated PrintFusion application, print buyers can—via the Web—create templates for customized printing jobs, such as data sheets, enter custom data to be incorporated into the PrintFusion template, review a proof of the document and submit the files to the printer to be produced, effectively moving the document further along in the prepress process and improving a printer's workflow efficiency.
Donald Armagnac has been named president and CEO of Collabria. Armagnac brings strategic management expertise from both large and small companies involved in supply chain e-business. Armagnac comes to Collabria from QAD, where he most recently served as executive vice president of global field management. Alan Hu, who co-founded the company and has served as Collabria's president, CEO and chairman since the company's incorporation in 1997, will retain his position as chairman.
PrintNation.com has added two new shopping plans to its site. The volume discount program and premium plus credit accounts are intended to reward the continued patronage of loyal customers. With the volume discount program, a discount percentage based on a customer's purchasing habits is determined upon application to the program. The customer can then increase this discount at any time. The premium plus credit account program offers two payment options: a 30-day credit line or a revolving account that offers more flexibility.
Digital Art Exchange (DAX), and Graphicsresourcecenter.com have entered into an agreement to co-market each company's Website content and features to the graphic communications industry. Graphicsresourcecenter is a portal serving the graphic communications industry. DAX's PrintPlanet.com is an e-community site for the graphic communications industry.
printCafe has introduced version 6.1 of PrintSmith, the software solution that integrates estimating, production and accounting functions into one print management program. PrintSmith 6.1 introduces Report Writer, a major new option. Using Report Writer, printers can modify the reports written into PrintSmith. PrintSmith 6.1 also includes a revamped security system with more control and an improved interface.
Digital Art Exchange (DAX), a managed Internet and application service provider for the graphic communications industry, and the Technical Association for the Graphic Arts (TAGA) have unveiled the organization's new Website, www.taga.org. Designed, developed and hosted by DAX, the new site was created for TAGA's 900 members worldwide, and the graphic arts community at large.
GOprinter, an e-business applications service provider (ASP) for manufacturers and distributors of printing supplies, equipment and paper products, has selected webMethods Inc., a provider of business-to-business integration solutions, as the company's primary integration offering. webMethods' flagship product, webMethods B2B·, will allow GOprinter's clients to link electronically with their business partners, creating a seamless, more efficient supply chain.
printCafe announced that Thomas Gill, managing partner of G4 Partners and former CEO of FORE Systems, has joined printCafe's board of directors. Gill spent seven years with FORE Systems, a Pittsburgh-based telecommunications and network equipment company purchased by Britain's Marconi last year. In May, Gill founded G4 Partners (www.g4partners.com), an investment management group focused on early-stage technology investments.