17 Jul 2007FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | View the PDF Version

STAR ANALYTICS SECURES $3.5M IN SERIES A FUNDING FROM HUMMER WINBLAD AND LIGHTSPEED

Capital investment validates growth opportunity for unlocking corporate data to accelerate business decisions; Momentum builds with 18th customer win

PALO ALTO, Calif., July 17, 2007 - Star Analytics, a leading provider of enterprise software solutions to automate the integration and sharing of data for business analysis and financial reporting, today announced it has closed a $3.5M first round of venture capital financing co-led by Hummer Winblad Venture Partners and Lightspeed Venture Partners.

Star Analytics, which has been self funded to date, will use the proceeds to scale operations and capitalize on growing demand. Ann Winblad, co-founding partner of Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, and John Luongo, a partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners, will join Star Analytics' Board of Directors as a result of the investments.

Star Analytics' considerable market traction is being fueled by strong customer demand in all industries, including: aerospace, banking, chemicals, computer software and hardware, cosmetics, energy, Internet search, manufacturing, mining, online travel and pharmaceuticals. The company's flagship product, Star Integration Server, enables these customers to create a single source of financial data for analysis and reporting and extend the value of their investment in business intelligence applications and data warehousing software.

Star Integration Server automates the laborious and costly task of integrating data from disparate financial systems for analysis and reporting using a wide range of open standard front-end reporting tools. Star Integration Server extracts data from proprietary OLAP (Online Analytical Processing) data sources and applications (including Hyperion EssbaseTM, Hyperion PlanningTM and Hyperion Financial ManagementTM), transforms data from multidimensional into relational structures, and consolidates the data into relational databases that maintain a single source of financial data to ensure Sarbanes-Oxley compliance.

In a case study about Star Integration Server, Jeff Brobst, Symantec's VP of Financial Planning and Analysis, said, "...The tight integration between our Hyperion applications and other financial systems avoids the nightmare of inconsistent information, and ensures that everyone, everywhere sees the same numbers." He added, "Star Integration Server is an affordable software package that provides a two-pronged solution-increased performance for financial applications, and lower total cost of ownership. Buying Star Integration Server was an easy choice for us."

"This funding represents a strong endorsement for our vision to transform the way businesses manage and use financial data which has been locked away until now," said Trevor Hughes, President & CEO of Star Analytics. "Leading corporations are turning to Star Analytics to liberate data from their proprietary systems and make it available to decision makers throughout their companies. We value Ann and John's expert guidance in pursuing this massive opportunity and will use this infusion of capital to aggressively expand our footprint in the market."

"Star Analytics impressed us with all the characteristics of high-growth software companies: a proven technology, a substantial market opportunity, a seasoned leadership team and the most important indicator of success-major corporate clients achieving measurable business results," said Ann Winblad, co-founding partner at Hummer Winblad. "Fortune 100 companies across sectors have deployed OLAP-based planning tools and now face the challenge of leveraging the data in these cubes into accessible and federated information that drives business decisions. Star Integration Server allows a large number of companies to break the shackles that limit OLAP data's value in the enterprise."

"Star Integration Server is solving a major challenge for large enterprise customers that need to untether themselves from the burden of unifying financial data and democratizing access for real-time decision-making," said John Luongo, venture partner at Lightspeed. John was the President, CEO and Chairman of Vantive, which later went public and was acquired by PeopleSoft (now Oracle Corporation). "Star Analytics is uniquely positioned to become a major player in the enterprise market, beginning with an immediate opportunity to serve a large installed base of Hyperion customers."

About Star Analytics
Star Analytics, Inc. is a leading provider of enterprise software solutions that automate the integration and sharing of data for business analysis and financial reporting. Its flagship product, Star Integration Server, enables corporations to derive greater value from their business intelligence and data warehousing investments. A privately-held company headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif., Star Analytics is funded by Hummer Winblad Venture Partners and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Partners include Hyperion Solutions, 123OLAP, AnswerThink, Key Performance Ideas, StrategicApps, TopDown Consulting and Vertical Pitch. For details and a free download of Star Integration Server - Express Edition, visit www.staranalytics.com.

About Hummer Winblad Venture Partners
Hummer Winblad Venture Partners was founded in 1989 as the first venture capital fund to invest exclusively in software companies. Over the past 17 years, the firm has funded more than 110 software companies spanning several generations of software applications, architectures, delivery methods and business models, including Omniture (recent IPO NASDAQ: OMTR), Voltage Security, Mulesource, Wind River Systems and Hyperion Solutions. For more information, visit www.humwin.com

About Lightspeed Venture Partners
Lightspeed Venture Partners combines extensive venture capital and operating experience to assist entrepreneurs in creating industry-leading technology companies. Lightspeed manages $1.3 billion of committed capital and focuses on early stage investments in the US, Asia and Israel. The firm has invested in more than 100 technology companies over the past two decades, including Blue Nile, Brocade, Ciena, Doubleclick, eHealth, Galileo Technology and Informatica. For more information, visit www.lightspeedvp.com.

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All brands, names, or trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners. This press release is for informational purposes only and no offer to buy or solicitation of an offer to sell any securities is made hereby. Certain information contained in this news release is forward-looking and is subject to unknown risks and uncertainties. The actual results, performance or achievements of the company may differ materially from the results, performance or achievements of the company expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.

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