SignalDemand, the leader in on-demand price and margin optimization software, announced today that it has received a $20 million investment from a syndicate of highly regarded venture firms led by a new investor, InterWest Partners. Existing investors Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, General Catalyst and Catamount Ventures also participated. SignalDemand plans to use the funds to spearhead its expansion into new vertical and geographic markets and further enhance its award-winning price and margin optimization offering.

SignalDemand is the world's only provider of price and margin optimization software for manufacturers delivered through a SaaS (Software as a Service) deployment model. Using patent-pending econometric modeling and sophisticated pricing algorithms, SignalDemand helps large-scale manufacturers understand how to optimize their pricing, supply utilization and product mix. SignalDemand customers report significant margin and profit gains from the company's acclaimed software.

"I am extremely pleased with the confidence both new and existing investors have in our business model and recent accomplishments," commented Michael Neal, founder and CEO of SignalDemand. "We're honored to have InterWest Partners lead this investment and join our team, bringing with them their extensive industry experience as we enter an exciting new growth stage. Additionally, the increased participation from our current investors is a strong endorsement of just how much SignalDemand has delivered on our initial vision—to be the global leader in price and margin optimization software for the world's largest manufacturers."

InterWest Partners' Bruce Cleveland will join SignalDemand's board of directors. A renowned software industry veteran, Bruce Cleveland brings three decades of operating expertise in the software and services sector with a focus on analytic applications and SaaS. Mr. Cleveland was one of the original members of the Siebel Systems executive team. At Siebel, he held numerous executive positions including SVP and GM of the OnDemand and SMB divisions and SVP of marketing and alliances. In the latter role, he is widely credited with creating the most effective alliance organization in the enterprise software industry. Cleveland also held executive positions in engineering and product management at Apple Computer, Inc., Oracle Corporation and AT&T.

"SignalDemand serves a growing market need by allowing world-class manufacturers to compete and win under often unpredictable market conditions," Cleveland said. "SignalDemand's on-demand technology provides manufacturers with a distinct advantage—instant access to critical data needed to make informed, timely and profitable decisions about pricing and production. I'm delighted to be part of the SignalDemand team."

The new investment comes at a time of significant momentum for SignalDemand:

• Since launching its patent-pending on-demand price optimization platform, SignalDemand has announced customer wins in several vertical markets, including blue-chip customer deployments in meat processing, food manufacturing and agribusiness. Its current customers include companies such as Cargill, Farmland Foods, Hormel, National Frozen Foods, Rich Products, Seaboard Foods and Ventura Foods.
• In October 2007, SignalDemand announced enhanced software capabilities of its patent-pending SignalDemand 3.0 software. Upgrades included new analytical tools, reporting and data feeds all designed to give customers a comprehensive view of their businesses and the markets in which they operate, enabling margin-improving actions to be taken in real time. Additional enhancements and new products are under active development.
• In March 2008, SignalDemand was the sole pricing vendor recognized by Gartner, a leading analyst firm, as one of the "Cool Vendors in Manufacturing in 2008." Gartner specifically highlighted SignalDemand's on-demand platform as a key ingredient for realizing the benefits of price and margin optimization.

About InterWest Partners

InterWest Partners (www.interwest.com), founded in 1979, is a leading diversified venture capital firm focused on building long-term relationships with entrepreneurs and portfolio companies. Currently investing its ninth fund, IW IX, a $600 million fund, InterWest has raised more than $2 billion of capital since inception. InterWest has 17 investing partners in Menlo Park, CA and Dallas, TX, who bring together deep domain knowledge in life sciences and information technology.

The firm's investments in information technology include: CIENA (CIEN), Copper Mountain Networks (CMTN), Crystal Semiconductor (acquired by Cirrus Logic, (CRUS)), Cyrix (CYRX, acquired by National Semiconductor (NSM)), Lightera (acquired by CIENA), PlaceWare (acquired by Microsoft, (MSFT)), SiTera (acquired by Vitesse, (VTSS)), Silicon Graphics (SGI), Stratacom (STRM, acquired by Cisco, (CSCO)) and Xilinx (XLNX).

About SignalDemand
SignalDemand provides manufacturers with on-demand software and services to achieve maximum profit margins in the face of volatile markets and increasingly complex pricing decisions. Using patented, comprehensive mathematical models to process thousands of variables, SignalDemand’s technology allows customers to adjust supply and demand on a continual basis. By recommending best price, supply utilization and product mix in moments, SignalDemand enables better day-to-day decision-making. Companies such as Cargill, Farmland Foods, Hormel, National Frozen Foods, Rich Products, Seaboard Foods and Ventura Foods rely on SignalDemand for immediate and ongoing improvement of financial performance. For more information, please visit www.signaldemand.com.