MFG.com, Inc., the largest global online marketplace for the
manufacturing community, today announced that it has received $26
million in financing. The investment was led by Fidelity Ventures and
Fidelity Asia Ventures, with an additional contribution by existing
investor European Founders Fund (EFF). The funds will be utilized for
MFG.com´s continued global expansion, technology development, creation
of innovative new online services and potential acquisitions.
MFG.com also announced that Fidelity Ventures partner, Larry
Cheng, has joined its Board of Directors. Cheng joins current board
members Mitch Free, CEO and Founder of MFG.com and Steve Campbell,
Chief Investment Officer, Bezos Expeditions (a private investment firm
of Jeff Bezos). In addition, Fidelity Asia Ventures managing partner,
Daniel Auerbach, has joined as a board observer.
"The manufacturing industry is one of the world´s largest vertical
markets and represents a high potential market for a B-to-B
marketplace because of its size, inherent globalization and
fragmentation," said Cheng who currently serves on the boards of
Prosper, eCredit, mindSHIFT Technologies and as a board observer on
The New Orleans Exchange. "MFG.com has demonstrated strong historical
growth and built a world-class platform that we are confident
positions them to further capitalize on the converging trends that are
transforming the manufacturing industry: accelerated globalization and
increased Internet utilization."
The MFG.com marketplace facilitates billions of dollars in
manufacturing transactions annually by connecting buyers and suppliers
of manufactured products around the world. With offices in North
America, Europe and Asia, MFG.com supports 10 languages and 12
currencies allowing its members to connect instantly without
geographical or technological barriers.
"Not only does MFG.com´s proprietary on-demand technology
streamline the complex process of sourcing and selling manufacturing
services, it also intelligently connects buyers and sellers from
around the world while providing an unparalleled approach to
intellectual property protection online," said Auerbach, who currently
serves on the boards of Danji Technology Holdings Ltd and UIM Holdings
and served on the boards of some of China´s most recognized companies
including AsiaInfo (NASDAQ: ASIA), Hurray Holdings (NASDAQ: HRAY),
Wuxi Pharmatech (NYSE: WX), and since its early beginnings, The
Alibaba Group holding company that includes the leading B-to-B
e-commerce company in China which recently launched a very successful
IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (Alibaba.com: Ticker # 1688). "The
success MFG.com has achieved in China just a year after establishing
its office in Shanghai will help pave the way for future geographic
expansion and overall business growth as the leading online
manufacturing platform."
Since its founding in 2000, MFG.com has scaled to be the largest
online manufacturing marketplace in the world. In 2006, the company
acquired Geneva-based SourcingParts.com. Together, the strategic
combination has already helped MFG.com achieve a critical mass of over
100,000 registered buyers and suppliers that have adopted the platform
as their preferred way of doing business. Every minute of every day,
buyers and suppliers of manufacturing services and industrial products
from all corners of the globe are connecting online at MFG.com and
conducting business. The manufacturing industry is a truly global
ecosystem and the MFG.com platform has been designed to facilitate
global trade, multiple languages, multiple currencies and has elegant
solutions to address intellectual property concerns making sourcing
online more secure than traditional methods.
"Our continued global growth was not dependent on raising
additional capital, particularly given the profitability of our core
business and the commitment of our existing investors Bezos
Expeditions and European Founders Fund," explained MFG.com Founder and
CEO Mitch Free. "However, we were particularly impressed with the
strategic value that Fidelity Ventures´ and Fidelity Asia Ventures´
could offer based on their domain expertise and global reach, as
evidenced by their successful investments in other online B-to-B
marketplaces, including Alibaba.com. Their investment and involvement
in MFG.com will further accelerate MFG.com along the path of becoming
the dominant platform upon which the world´s manufacturing community
conducts business."
About MFG.com
MFG.com is the largest global online marketplace for the
manufacturing industry. MFG.com instantly and intelligently matches
sourcing professionals and engineers with suppliers who have the right
expertise and capacity to manufacture parts and tooling on demand in
accordance with their engineering drawings and CAD files. MFG.com´s
on-demand service is consolidating the once- fragmented world of
manufacturing into an efficient marketplace, enabling products to be
sourced and built more easily, quickly, inexpensively, and at higher
quality levels. For more information, please visit:
http://www.MFG.com.
About Fidelity Ventures
Fidelity Ventures invests in companies ready to enter the market
and those poised for the next phase of growth. Its 40-year track
record includes hundreds of successful investments in the consumer,
communications, systems and software markets. Fidelity Ventures is
distinguished by the ability to accelerate market adoption for its
portfolio companies´ offerings, and by a global network of senior
technology and business executives. Fidelity Ventures actively manages
over $800 million from offices in Boston and London. For more
information, please visit: www.fidelityventures.com.
About Fidelity Asia Ventures
Fidelity Asia Ventures (FAV) is the Asian venture and growth
capital arm of Fidelity International Ltd., (FIL) a part of the global
Fidelity investment organization. FAV remains focused on delivering
relevant global resources to each company with whom it partners FAV is
among the earliest and most successful institutional investors in
private, growth companies in China and has actively invested
predominantly FIL proprietary capital in both the information
technology and healthcare sectors throughout Asia for nearly 14 years,
with a longstanding focus on China. More recently it has established a
substantial capital pool for investment in growing private companies
in India. FAV´s current mission is to invest principally in
high-quality, high-growth companies broadly in the information
technology, healthcare and consumer sectors in China and India. FAV´s
investment teams in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai and Mumbai are among
the most experienced in the Asia-Pacific region. For more information,
please visit: http://www.fidelityasiaventures.com.
