Aria Systems Closes $4.0 M Series A Financing Led by Hummer Winblad Venture Partners

PHILADELPHIA.—November 7, 2007 - Aria Systems, Inc., provider of on-demand billing and customer management services, today announced it secured $4.0 million in Series A financing led by Hummer Winblad Venture Partners. Aria - which has emerged as the top monetization platform for the gaming and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) markets - will use the proceeds to expand sales and account management operations, build-out its on-demand delivery infrastructure, and finance product and architecture enhancements.

Aria enables businesses with diverse markets and services to manage and control all of their recurring revenue processes, including registration, provisioning, metering, billing, invoicing, and ongoing customer management. Since its start in 2003, Aria has added more than 30 clients to its customer rolls and signed 21 significant agreements with integration and distribution partners.  RBC Capital Markets predicts that the SaaS market will grow at a 43% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) to be $28 billion by 2010.

“We’re honored to have a firm with the reputation of Hummer Winblad recognize the business we’ve built and the opportunity that lies ahead,” said Ed Sullivan, Aria’s CEO and founder. “Software as a Service is making companies reevaluate their relationships with legacy vendors.  Salesforce.com proved the model for CRM and we are seeing similar demand from customers for SaaS-based billing and customer management.”

Hummer Winblad managing director Mark Gorenberg will join Aria’s Board of Directors. Aria is Hummer Winblad’s fourteenth SaaS investment.

“Aria has proven that it can win major clients and build strong partnerships in the gaming and SaaS markets,” said Gorenberg. “We also see longer-term opportunity for Aria across other industries with recurring billing requirements, industries such as telecommunications, insurance and utilities. Our investment will help Aria win in these markets like they’ve done with SaaS and gaming.”

About Aria Systems

Aria Systems is the leading provider of on-demand and subscription billing solutions encompassing the full spectrum of Billing and Customer Lifecycle Management services. The A+ Billing Platform offers clients the industry's most secure, flexible, and scalable tool for accelerating revenue capture, optimizing cash flow, and enabling actionable market intelligence while significantly reducing operating costs throughout each phase of the customer lifecycle.

Aria is the SaaS billing leader in terms of experience, execution, and reliability. The company has handled over one million accounts, and managed more than one billion transactions, since its inception in 2003. Additionally, Aria leads the market in security and compliance having achieved both end-to-end level one PCI Compliance and SAS70 compliance.

Aria's executive team has over 80 years combined experience in billing and 50 combined in SaaS, and is backed by investments from Hummer Winblad Partners, Venrock, and Dave Labuda, former CEO of Portal Software (acquired by Oracle). The company is headquartered in Media, Pa. (metropolitan Philadelphia), and has offices in the San Francisco bay area.

Media Contacts

Kevin M Jackson
Aria Systems
+1 484 234 8000