DB e-Ventures makes first investment

DB e-Ventures, the strategic investment arm of Deutsche Bank, has announced that it has taken part in a $52.5 million investment in iMediation, which sells software and services that enable business partners to jointly sell products and services online. DB e-Ventures was one of three new investors in iMediation, the other two being GIC Special Investments (GIC SI), the private equity investment arm of the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation, and Compagnie Financiere Saint Honore, the holding company for the Rothschild Group in France. The three committed over 50 per cent of the total round, which is iMediation’s third funding round to date. Previous investors in iMediation who also took part in this latest round include Apax Partners, Bridgemont, Europ@Web, GE Equity, Intel Capital, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, Reuters Venture Capital and Viventures.

This is the first of three investments to be announced by DB e-Ventures, the other two being a $33 million sole investment in AlphaBlox and a participation in a $21.8 million funding round for RiskMetrics. AlphaBlox is a provider of open web-based platform for broadly deployed business intelligence applications and as such has become a key component of Deutsche Bank’s technological infrastructure. RiskMetrics is a financial risk measurement provider of which Deutsche Bank is again a client. Other investors in this funding round were American Express, Intel 64 Fund, Procter & Gamble, Reuters, Sony, and JP Morgan. RiskMetrics is a company that was spun off from JP Morgan in 1998.

DB eVentures, which was formalised by Deutsche Bank this summer, funds and develops key e-business partnerships in close co-operation with the bank’s global businesses. DB eVentures works with all of Deutsche Bank’s business areas to provide the bank with partners in the latest technology and e-business solutions.