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S3 Ventures-Backed 30 Second Software Digs Into $3M Equity Offering - cbl
By citybizlist Staff
AUSTIN -- 30 Second Software Inc., which does business as Digby, has raised $2 million from four investors in its $3 million equity offering, according to an SEC filing.
The Austin-based tech firm, founded in 2006, is funded by its customers, founders and business partners, plus institutional investors S3 Ventures, of Austin, and BlackBerry Partners Fund, of Toronto.
Principals named in the filing include 30 Second Software President and CEO David Sikora, CFO Ron Jennings and Lance Obermeyer, chief technology officer. Also named are directors Brian Smith, of S3 Ventures; Susan Sheskey, former chief information officer at Round Rock-based Dell Inc.; Pierre Donaldson, of BlackBerry Partners Fund; and Mike Maples, a former Microsoft Corp. executive.
Digby offers mobile commerce solutions for boutique retailers and carriers in Texas.
Reg D filing: http://tinyurl.com/24folx8
Bios from Digby's Web site:
David Sikora - President and CEO
David Sikora founded Digby in 2006, with a goal to accelerate the convergence of mobility and electronic commerce. He is a veteran of the software industry, having been CEO of several successful public and venture backed private companies during his 25 year business career. He has served as the CEO of Pervasive Software (NASDAQ: PVSW), Question Technologies, Ventix Systems, and Forefront Group (NASDAQ: FFGI, acquired by NASDAQ: SKIL). In addition, he has served on the boards of several public and private companies, including TippingPoint Technologies, Motive, AG Tech, ClearOrbit, Troux Technologies, and Powered, Inc. He is also active in various Austin technology and community organizations.
Sikora has an MBA from Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration.
Lance Obermeyer - Chief Technology Officer
Prior to joining Digby, Dr. Obermeyer was the Senior Director of Technology at Pervasive Software (NASDAQ:PVSW) in Austin, TX. (2002 2006) where he led Pervasive Software's technology and product management efforts including new product technology, acquisition due diligence, product management, product marketing, and engineering oversight.
Prior to Pervasive Software, Dr. Obermeyer was a co-founder and the Chief Technology Officer of Liaison Technology, Austin, TX (1999 2002). Liaison (acquired by Forest Express) an enterprise level content management provider. During his tenure, Liaison filed for five patents, and was awarded one United States patent.
Dr. Obermeyer holds a Ph.D. in Computer Sciences from The University of Texas at Austin. His research focused on merging databases and artificial intelligence. He also holds a B.S. in Finance from Florida State University.
Ron Jennings - CFO
Ron Jennings brings to Digby over 35 years experience in financial management, operational management, and executive leadership. Ron has 15 years of software experience, and spent the last 10 years with QuickArrow, Inc., a services automation software company in Austin, Texas. During his QuickArrow tenure, Ron served at various times as Chairman, President, CFO, and COO. He grew the company from initial funding through four rounds of venture funding, and from start-up to profitability with over $10M in annualized revenue. QuickArrow was acquired by NetSuite, Inc., in 2009.
Prior to joining Digby, Ron served in executive financial positions with Object Reservoir, Inc., Browning-Ferris Industries, and Western Geophysical Company. Ron's experience includes audit positions with Gulf Oil Corporation and KPMG, and he has maintained a private consulting practice, providing controller and administrative services to small businesses.
Mr. Jennings holds a BBA in Accounting from The University of Texas at Austin and is a Certified Public Accountant.
Paul Franz - VP, Worldwide Sales
Prior to joining Digby, Paul was Vice President of Sales, Media Solutions Group for Bazaarvoice in Austin, TX., the leading provider of social technologies for retailers. Before Bazaarvoice, was the co-founder of Powered, Inc, a social commerce company based in Austin, TX. During his tenure at Powered Paul served in various capacities including Vice President of Sales, Vice President of Business Development and CEO. Prior to Powered, Paul was COO of Bam! Advertising, a high tech creative boutique.
Paul brings 20 years of operational experience to Digby having held director and executive level positions in finance, operations, business development and sales in a variety of Austin-based, venture-backed startups, including ReCompute Corporation, TechWorks, and DGR Technologies.
Paul holds an MBA in Finance from the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, IN and a BA in Economics from Southwestern University in Georgetown TX.
Eric Newman - VP Client Services
As VP of Client Services, Eric helps large and small retail companies leverage the power of mobile commerce. During his 18+ year career, Eric has built, marketed and delivered world-class software products to companies such as Microsoft, Yahoo, the NFL, Circuit City, Kraft, AT&T, British Telecom, NTT and Reuters. He has ridden the cutting edge of a number of online revolutions at a variety of start ups, delivering leading edge social marketing, commerce and media products with Pluck (now part of Demand Media); creating education-based social marketing tools at Powered, Inc.; creating and licensing the first software-based online collaboration tools at DataBeam (now part of IBM); licensing and developing technologies for the search engine renaissance at Direct Hit (now part of Ask Jeeves); and developing expert network communities at Question Technologies (now part of Motive Corporation). He holds an M.B.A. degree from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and B.A. degrees in Information Systems and Marketing from the University of Cincinnati.
Stanley Wang - VP of Research
Stanley brings over 20 years of development and management experience to Digby. Prior to joining Digby, Stanley was co-founder and CTO of Movaya Wireless, Inc, a leading provider of mobile digital content delivery off-deck. During his tenure, Stanley established and managed a wholly-owned subsidiary in China focused on architecting and developing first class commerce platforms for mobile digital content.
Stanley holds a Masters degree in Electrical Engineering from University of Electronic and Science Technology of China.
Curtis Hill - VP of Engineering
Curtis Hill joins Digby as Vice President of Engineering, responsible for the company's engineering functions. Curtis brings over 20 years of deep engineering management experience ranging from large software companies including BMC and Quest, to start-ups and mid-size software companies. Curtis holds a BS in Mathematics from Auburn University.
Dan Lowden - VP of Marketing
Dan Lowden joins Digby as Vice President of Marketing, responsible for all aspects of the company's brand strategy and marketing. He brings 15 years of experience in mobile services and mobile devices through his roles at top technology companies including AT&T Wi-Fi Services where he was Vice President of Marketing, Wayport (acquired by AT&T) where he was Vice President of Marketing and Business Development, and IBM where he was North American ThinkPad Brand Manager and World-Wide ThinkPad Segment Manager. Dan holds an MBA in International Business from Rutgers University and a B.S. in Finance from Rider University.
Board of Directors
Susan Sheskey
Former Chief Information Officer, Dell, Inc.
Susan E. Sheskey served as Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer for Dell Inc. from August 2005 until her retirement from the company in August 2007. In this role she was responsible for the whole of Dell's global information systems and technology infrastructure.
Prior to becoming Dell's CIO, Ms. Sheskey held the position of Vice President of Information Technology for the company's Americas Region, where she oversaw the development, deployment, and support of Dell's global sales, services, manufacturing and fulfillment systems.
A noted authority on supply-chain and eCommerce technology, Ms. Sheskey joined Dell in 1993. She performed various IT management and leadership functions across a wide variety of business areas, including sales, manufacturing, fulfillment, services, procurement, data warehouse, finance, and human resources. Her efforts were paramount in establishing Dell as a leader in ecommerce and supply chain management, and she received CIO Magazine's CIO Enterprise Value Award in 2004 for her success in providing Dell's sales agents with an integrated view of customer data. Ms. Sheskey was also awarded the CIO 100 award from CIO Magazine in 2006 in recognition of Dell's innovative work on its European order-management systems; an award she won again in 2007 for innovations in mobile application delivery.
Before joining Dell, Ms. Sheskey worked for both Ameritech and [Ohio Bell], gaining key planning, development and operational experience.
Ms. Sheskey graduated from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.
Mike Maples
Former Executive Vice President, Worldwide Products Group and Member of the Office of the President, Microsoft Corporation
Mr. Maples held various management positions at Microsoft Corporation from April 1988 to July 1995, including Executive Vice President of the Worldwide Products Group. As a member of the Office of the President at Microsoft, Mr. Maples reported directly to the Chairman. Previously, he served as Director of Software Strategy for International Business Machines Corp. Mr. Maples also currently serves on the boards of Motive, Inc., a service management software company, Lexmark International, Inc., a laser and inkjet printer company, and Sonic Corp., an operator and franchiser of drive-in restaurants.
He is currently a member of the Board of Visitors of the Engineering School at the University of Oklahoma and the College of Engineering Foundation Advisory Council at the University of Texas at Austin.
Mr. Maples received a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Oklahoma and a Master of Business Administration from Oklahoma City University.
Pierre Donaldson
Managing Director, BlackBerry Partners Fund
As a member of the BlackBerry Partners Fund investment management team Pierre oversees direct investments in a broad range of mobile application and services companies.
Mr. Donaldson has previously held the position of president and CEO of Bioscrypt Inc. Under his leadership, the company, then Mytec, acquired a major competitor, Biometric Identification Inc., and the two companies merged to become Bioscrypt Inc., a leading North American biometric software firm. During the past 22 years, Mr. Donaldson has acquired extensive experience in the software and high technology industries. From 1998 2000 he was executive vice-president, worldwide field operations, for the Descartes Systems Group Inc., a provider of business-to-business Internet logistics solutions. Prior to this Mr. Donaldson was vice-president, sales and marketing for Treasury Services Co. (acquired in 1997 by Oracle Corporation), a supplier of information management software. He has also served as president and CEO of Virtual Prototypes Inc., and held several senior management positions with Dun & Bradstreet Software Corporation. Mr. Donaldson received his Bachelor of Commerce from Hautes Etudes Commerciales at University of Montreal.
He is a director of Nstein Technologies Inc., Espial Inc. and Tungle Inc.
Brian Smith
Managing Director, S3 Ventures
Brian serves as a managing director of S3 Ventures. He leads the team's efforts in technology, infrastructure and software. At 35, he co-founded the Convergent Investors Fund, a $70M early-stage venture capital firm in Texas. Brian served as managing director of Convergent Investors, where he oversaw investments in 10 companies. At age 29, he founded and served as chairman and CEO of Crossroads Systems (Nasdaq:CRDS). He led Crossroads through five rounds of venture, strategic and mezzanine financing and to a successful IPO in 1999. Brian ran Crossroads as a public company for nearly four years. In this role, Brian was an early pioneer in Storage Area Networks ("SANs"), which are industry standard solutions today. For his efforts, he was awarded the prestigious Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2000. He spent the first seven years of his career in electrical engineering positions holding product development roles within the Technology Group of the IBM Corporation.
Brian earned a BSEE with honors from the University of Cincinnati and an MSEE from Purdue University. He served on the board of Conformative Systems (acquired by Intel), Chicory Systems (acquired by CEVA) and Crossroads Systems (Nasdaq: CRDS). He currently serves on the boards of Digby, Invodo, OrthoAccel, Phurnace and StoredIQ.
Brian leads the team's efforts in technology, infrastructure and software.
Posted: July 30, 2010