B-There Gains Financial Footing

<B>B-There Gains Financial Footing</B>

By Chris Davis

In the face of a venture capital market disinclined to extensive Internet funding, attendee management Web site B-there closed $6.5 million in financing last month. With the round of capital raised by B-there rival Passkey.com in February, there appears to be cause for optimism about the continued survival of online attendee management companies.

B-there also announced it will private label its attendee management tools as part of meeting portal PlanSoft's Meeting Management Solutions product suite, and offer the portal's site selection and RFP solutions to its own customers. PlanSoft's MMS was introduced last fall to allow planners to consolidate meetings data online (Meetings Today, Oct. 30, 2000).

Meanwhile, B-there's funding was raised from its original investors--TL Ventures of Wayne, Pa., New York-based Seaport Capital and BancBoston Ventures of Boston--and will help to carry the company to profitability, perhaps by the second quarter of 2002, said B-there founder and CEO Peggy Lee. The money, part of a $10 million round of financing, will be used to support further program development and customer care initiatives. Lee said the company has commitments for and expects to close the additional $3.5 million, but is not basing its 2001 budget on it.

Seaport Capital partner Bill Luby said B-there's "business model is sound, the product is first class and the organization is poised to move confidently to the next level."

Lee said, "The meeting industry is a huge vertical that still is under-automated and under-served by comprehensive end-to-end solution providers. B-there comes closest to providing the fully integrated attendee management solution that corporations, and the third parties that serve them, are seeking."

While B-there has developed partnerships with other Internet meeting and travel companies, Lee said any potential acquisitions are unlikely. "All things are possible," she said, "but our resources are focused on our core business, attendee relationship management tools.