SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–June 2, 2003–Planitax, Inc., an enterprise software and services provider that helps large, global companies lower taxes by improving planning, strategy andcompliance, today announced a $7.5 million first round investment led by Mobius Venture Capital. Other investors include Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Access Venture Partners and select individualinvestors. As part of this announcement, Planitax also adds three new members to its board of directors: Greg Prow, former tax practice leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers and now managing director andchief operating officer of Mobius Venture Capital; Heidi Roizen, managing director of Mobius Venture Capital; and software industry executive John Valencia.
Planitax is executing on its vision to improve the effectiveness of their tax function in the face of an increasingly demanding corporate finance and regulatory environment. The company does this through innovative software applications and services, as well as relationships with leading public accounting firms, law firms, government agencies and other industry players.
“Under increasing scrutiny and financial pressure, corporate tax officers are looking for ‘inside-the-box’ strategies to capture available tax opportunities,” said Greg Prow, who developed and directed the Research and Experimentation Tax Credit Practice among other senior leadership positions at PricewaterhouseCoopers prior to joining Mobius Venture Capital. “We believe Planitax is uniquely positioned to capitalize on this new market opportunity. They offer clients a solution that has at its core an ongoing electronic documentation repository that they can control and navigate themselves, and insulates them from auditor independence issues raised by Sarbanes-Oxley.”
Today, the company provides a suite of web-based software and services that help companies save millions of dollars by streamlining costly, time-consuming traditional tax processes and compliance activities associated with the research tax credit. According to the U.S. Congress’ Joint Committee on Taxation, an estimated 15,000 businesses claimed a total of $7 billion for the IRS Section 41 “Credit for Increasing Research Activities” in 2000, the most recent year for which statistics are available. However, most companies are unable to sustain their claims due to the high cost and time involved in traditional approaches of creating documentation to support the credit.
“According to the tax executives we’ve spoken with, the No. 1 pain associated with the research tax credit is efficiently gathering the depth of contemporaneous documentation on research and development activities required to effectively substantiate a claim. Planitax’s solution offers corporate tax executives an efficient, cost-effective way to cut costs and improve profitability in a challenging economic climate,” said Roizen. “They’ve developed a first-to-market solution and secured a list of marquis clients. They’ve built an experienced management team to take advantage of market momentum and scale the business.”
“Raising venture funding in this environment is a testament to both the market traction we have been able to achieve, and an endorsement of the opportunity ahead,” said Seda Taysi, founder and CEO of Planitax. “The financial backing and strategic insight from these top tier venture firms, as well as the tax domain and software operations know-how of our new board members, give us the competitive edge to continue to expand our operations and product development, and further grow our market presence.”
About Planitax
Planitax, Inc. provides enterprise tax software and consulting services that enable large corporations such as Guidant Corporation, SBC Communications, and Hyperion Solutions to streamline their tax operations and improve the strategic value of the tax organization to the enterprise. Thousands of employees in industries such as semiconductors, medical technology, software, telecommunications, and electronics, access Planitax’s patent-pending software to record, analyze, and report critical tax information. The company is venture-backed, and located in San Francisco, California. For more information call 800-606-8060, or visit www.planitax.com.
About Mobius Venture Capital
With offices in Palo Alto, California and Superior, Colorado, Mobius Venture Capital is a $2.25 billion U.S.-based private equity venture capital firm managed by an unparalleled team of former CEOs and entrepreneurs, technology pioneers, senior executives from major technology corporations, and leaders from the investment banking community. Mobius Venture Capital specializes primarily in early-stage investments in the areas of: communications systems software and services; infrastructure software and services; professional services; enterprise applications; healthcare informatics; consumer and small business applications; components; and emerging technologies. Mobius Venture Capital combines its technology expertise and broad financial assets with the industry’s best entrepreneurs to create a powerhouse portfolio of over 100 of the world’s leading high technology companies. For more information on the fund’s investment team, technology vision and portfolio companies, please visit www.mobiusvc.com.
About Draper Fisher Jurvetson
Draper Fisher Jurvetson is the leader in early stage venture capital. With an eighteen-year track record successfully investing in over 200 companies, the firm currently manages its seventh Silicon Valley seed fund and an international multi-stage joint venture. Additionally, Draper Fisher Jurvetson has more than ten regional seed stage venture partnerships. Draper Fisher Jurvetson has proven expertise in identifying extraordinary entrepreneurs, analyzing growing markets, and exploiting catalytic technologies. Furthermore, it has vast experience in founding, staffing and assimilating teams in major technology centers for Draper Fisher Jurvetson’s affiliated regional venture capital firms. Headquartered in Redwood City, California, Draper Fisher Jurvetson manages approximately $2 billion in capital. For more information about Draper Fisher Jurvetson visit www.dfj.com.
About Access Venture Partners
Access Venture Partners is an early stage venture capital fund with offices in three of the major technology markets in the country, Silicon Valley, Austin, and Denver. The managing directors of Access Venture Partners are focused on helping entrepreneurs build great companies. Access actively participates in building the management and distribution infrastructure required to aggressively grow new businesses as well as helping create the top tier investment syndicates to do so. Bringing years of investment experience in over fifty early stage companies, each managing director recognizes the challenges associated with building successful companies from infancy to I.P.O., merger, or acquisition. For more information on Access Venture Partners see www.accessventurepartners.com.
Note to Editors: Planitax is a trademark of Planitax, Inc. All other product and company names may be trademarks of their respective companies.
