Business Engine Revs Again

Software vendor Business Engine Inc. is getting the equivalent of a corporate Botox injection -- a bit of new money, some executive changes, and a tweak to the underlying tissue.

The firm announced $4 million in series A funding and a new CEO today as it plans the launch of its next product (see Business Engine Revs Up ).

Oak Investment Partners, Technology Crossover Ventures, and Morgan Stanley Venture Partners all participated in the round.

Mark Strauch, Business Engine's former COO, has taken over the reins from Doug Dickey, who is gearing up for retirement, according to Kazim Isfahani, the companys vice president of marketing. “Quite literally, he is going back to the ranch,” he says, although he adds that Dickey will remain with the company in an advisory role.

Business Engine is one of a number of vendors, including big names such as IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM) and Computer Associates International Inc. (CA) (NYSE: CA) as well as startups ProSight Inc., UMT, and PlanView, that are targeting an area called "project and portfolio management." These Web-based applications let firms deploy portals that can be used to monitor and compare different projects and their economic effects on a company.U.K retailer Tesco, for example, has used Business Engine's software to keep track of its equipment purchasing and monitor its own IT projects.

Business Engine, based in San Francisco, is now planning to launch a new product, code-named “Cascade,” according to Isfahani, which will add new business intelligence and workflow features to its software. This will be unveiled at the company’s user summit in Orlando, Fla., later this month.

Isfahani adds that the bulk of the company’s Series A money will go on product development. “For any software company, developing new products is your lifeblood,” he says. “So I would expect that’s where the balance of it will go.”

But, the funding round and executive changes are just one part of a larger corporate overhaul. Formerly registered as Business Engine Corp. in California, the company has now incorporated itself in Delaware as Business Engine Inc., having bought the assets of the old firm. “Since we’re forming this new company, we’re purchasing the assets, not the liabilities, of the Business Engine Corp.,” says Isfahani.

The shift to incorporated status in Delaware, coupled with its financial restructuring, puts Business Engine on a stronger footing for potential M&A, according to the exec. “We’re actually looking at organizations both within our space as well as peripherally complementary technologies that would extend our footprint,” he says.The exec did not reveal the names of these targets.

— James Rogers, Site Editor, Next-Gen Data Center Forum