Carmel Ventures

Tel Aviv, Israel – December 4, 2006 – Clarizen, a developer of innovative on-demand, enterprise-grade project management services, announced today that it closed a $7 million round of financing from Benchmark Capital and Carmel Ventures. Mark Kremer, General Partner of Benchmark Capital, and Harel Beit-On, General Partner of Carmel Ventures, have joined Clarizen’s Board of Directors.

Clarizen was founded by CEO, Avinoam Nowogrodski, and by EVP R&D, Tanya Epstein, in 2005. Prior to founding Clarizen, both held similar positions at SmarTeam Corporation, a provider of collaborative product life cycle management solutions, which Mr. Nowogrodski co-founded in 1995.

“Clarizen’s innovative solution creates a unique project management environment enabling true team collaboration and the sharing of live knowledge through the use of Web2.0 communication tools,” explained Avinoam Nowogrodski, CEO of Clarizen.

Harel Beit-On, General Partner of Carmel Ventures, added, “The Software as a Service business model – which requires no software or dedicated hardware at the customer’s site – is fast becoming a trend among businesses. With the unique solution and strong domain knowledge of the founders, Clarizen is well poised to lead the on-demand project management market.”  

Mark Kremer, General Partner of Benchmark Capital, said, “Clarizen empowers users to manage projects and programs across teams, organizations, and companies. We are excited to work with the company on solutions that customers love to use and love to buy.”

Benchmark Capital, a leading international venture capital firm, was founded in 1995 to help talented entrepreneurs with original ideas build successful technology companies. Benchmark’s general partners take a team-oriented, labor-intensive approach to venture investing to deliver a superior level of service to the firm’s portfolio companies.  Benchmark’s portfolio includes high-profile start-ups like MySQL, Metacafe, Seeking Alpha, Zillow, Yelp, and Linden Lab’s Second Life, and franchise companies such as eBay, Juniper Networks and Red Hat.  Managing more than $3.5 billion in committed venture capital, Benchmark has offices in Silicon Valley, Europe and Israel. For more information on Benchmark Capital, visit its website at www.benchmark.com.

Founded in 2000 by pioneers and leaders of the Israeli high tech industry, Carmel Ventures is one of Israel’s leading venture capital funds focused on information technology with $372 million under management.  Led by former entrepreneurs and executives of the software, communications and investment industries, Carmel provides active, hands-on support to its portfolio companies.  Carmel, headquartered in Herzliya, Israel, enjoys a worldwide network of industry, strategic and investment resources.  Carmel provides significant capital and support through the growth cycle of its portfolio companies and is recognized as a true company building fund in Israel. For more information, please visit www.carmelventures.com.

Clarizen enables on-demand, enterprise-grade project management for everyone. Active participation and secure cooperation lead to true team collaboration, while up-to-the-minute live knowledge helps align project data with business objectives. These unique benefits are derived through Software as a Service (SaaS) – which requires no software and no dedicated hardware – and the freedom of communication of Web2.0.

Clarizen’s project management solution is being tested by dozens of users worldwide who have joined the company’s design partners program. Clarizen intends to launch its public Beta service in Q1 2007. Businesses may join Clarizen’s Beta service or apply to become a design partner at the company’s website: www.clarizen.com