Cambridge, MA – September 8, 2005 - MetaCarta®, Inc., a leading provider of geographic-based business intelligence, today announced that industry luminaries George McNamee and Don Zereski have joined MetaCarta’s board of directors. In addition, MetaCarta has also received $10 million in a Series C round of funding. The latest round of financing was led by new investors FA Technology Ventures and Hunt Ventures and also included long-time company backers Sevin Rosen, Solstice Capital, Chisholm, In-Q-Tel and ChevronTexaco Technology Ventures. The funding will be used to expand operations, sales and marketing.
“We are honored to welcome Don and George to our board of directors,” said Ron Matros, president and CEO of MetaCarta. “One of Don Zereski’s most notable strengths is his passion for the online industry. He has managed some of the most well known, award-winning Internet sites. George McNamee served as a Director of MapInfo and brings extensive financial, technological and strategic planning expertise. George’s experience in the mapping industry combined with Don’s experience with Terra Lycos will play a key role as MetaCarta continues to grow.”
George McNamee is a founding member and managing partner of FA Technology Ventures and has spent much of his career working with emerging growth technology and new energy technology companies as mentor, founder, venture investor and board member. He currently serves as a director of privately held Adapt Media, Inc., Autotask Corporation and iRobot, Inc., as well as Chairman of publicly held Plug Power (NASDAQ: PLUG). Previously he served on the Boards of MapInfo Corporation (NASDAQ: MAPS) and the META Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: METG) and as Chairman of Mechanical Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: MKTY). In addition to his responsibilities at FA Technology Ventures, George is Chairman of First Albany Companies, Inc.
Don Zereski was the Vice President of subscription services for Terra Lycos’ most successful services Matchmaker.com and Quote.com. Zereski is a Web veteran who has managed some of the Internet’s most visited Web sites including the award-winning Tripod and Angelfire sites, HTMLGear, MailCity, Lycos chat, clubs and message boards. He has served as president & chief operating officer of Streetmail, an Internet direct marketing company, funded by AOL Time Warner, Rho Management and Village Ventures.
About FA Technology Ventures
FA Technology Ventures, based in Albany, New York and Boston, Massachusetts, is a leading early stage investor, providing venture capital, management and guidance for companies in the emerging growth sectors of Information Technology and Energy Technology. FATV is committed to helping build tomorrow’s leading companies through its investments. It looks for business ideas with the potential for greatness and experienced, passionate entrepreneurs to execute on them. To learn more about FATV, visit www.FAtechventures.com.
About Hunt Ventures
Hunt Ventures, based in Dallas, invests in early stage life sciences and technology investments and is a part of Ray L. Hunt's Hunt Consolidated, Inc., which includes oil and gas, real estate and private equity investments.
About MetaCarta
MetaCarta, a leading provider of geographic intelligence, offers comprehensive analysis tools to enable better business decisions. Founded by a team of MIT researchers in 2001, MetaCarta provides groundbreaking technology that bridges the gap between Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and text search. The company presents innovative solutions that improve decision-making by making it possible for customers to place documents on a map. The company is privately held, with offices in Cambridge, MA, Vienna, VA, and Houston, TX. To learn more about MetaCarta, please visit www.metacarta.com.
MetaCarta is a trademark of MetaCarta, Incorporated. All other product or corporate references may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.