MANKATO, MINNESOTA, February 23, 2009 - Firepond, Inc. (OTCBB: FPND) today announced that FPX, LLC (an affiliate of Texas-based Acclaim Financial Group, LLC) has acquired all of Firepond’s assets. Audrey Spangenberg, CEO of AFG, will assume the title of Chairman and CEO of FPX.
Addressing the employees, Audrey Spangenberg stated, “Welcome to a new day. Today our customers, prospects and partners can be assured that the enterprise class solutions powered by Firepond in the Configuration, Pricing and Quoting space will be backed up with the necessary assets and resources required to dominate this market. The world class Firepond technology will continue to be the leading CPQ solution and FPX will be our new company name. I want to state unequivocally to our customers, partners and competitors, FPX has the combined strength of balance sheet, technology and intellectual property that is unmatched in our market space:
- Equity in excess of $50 million
- No debt
- A $10 million capital commitment to fund growth
- A SaaS based subscription revenue stream
- A foundation of technology that has evolved to become the leading “SaaS” Configuration, Pricing and Quoting solution operating in the “Cloud”
- As FPX, we now have the ability to offer the marketplace a comprehensive set of Firepond solutions from a position of financial strength, which is a dream come true for all of the employees and a true benefit to our customers. The support and feedback we have received from our customers and active prospects regarding this announcement is extremely positive.
We will continue to distinguish FPX/Firepond from all competitors in the SaaS based, on-demand Configuration, Pricing and Quoting space as follows:
- Financial Viability – Now backed by a large minority owned private fund founded in 1994, FPX has the capital and commitment to ensure that every Firepond product is a market leader
- Business Viability – From the 25-year history of enterprise companies that have relied on Firepond to manage critical parts of their business, to the more recent SaaS based customers that depend on the configure, price, quote solutions for thousands of global users, FPX’s customer list reads like a who’s who of the Global 500
- Technology Viability – FPX owns the rights for use of the core IP at the foundation of our Firepond products and solutions. The historical R&D investments for the Firepond product are well in excess of $200 million
- Employee Viability – Our employees proven product expertise, with an average tenure with the product and in the market space of over 12 years, is one of the top reason’s our customers select the Firepond solution
These metrics simply cannot be matched by our competitors. Existing customers will not miss a beat – the entire operational team remains the same plus additional senior account managers are being hired. New and existing customers will benefit from additional products, strengthened services and a renewed sense of achievement.”
Craig Christiansen was introduced as President – Technology. Craig has been the conscience behind the Firepond product for more than 22 years and maintains responsibility for sustaining the Firepond product’s technology lead.
FPX sales will be led by Vince Evers who was introduced as President – FPX Sales Worldwide. Jim Scheper will continue in his role as Vice President – Sales US and Peter Molnar will continue as Vice President – Sales EMEA. Paul Kiss has assumed the position of Regional Director – Mid-Market Sales US. This sales team averages more than 25 years of tech sales experience and is responsible for expanding the FPX sales organization.
FPX business objectives will focus on customers, employees and the products:
- Our existing customers remain our top priority as we execute plans to hire senior account managers to continue first rate services that are delivered to our strong customer base
- FPX will soon announce exciting new product additions to our application suite – enhancements enabled by our core technology that will further position FPX as the leader in this market space
- FPX is actively seeking talented people to join the FPX team and help us grow our company
About FPX
FPX, a minority owned company, is the leading provider of multi-tenant, on-demand Configure-Price-Quote® applications that automate and simplify product pricing and configuration. FPX solutions provide a rapid ROI through improved order accuracy (100% of submitted orders have accurate specifications and pricing), improved proposal generation time and high user acceptance. For additional information about FPX, visit www.fpxllc.com or call 1-866-UCONFIG (826-6344).
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Contact
Business Affairs Office
FPX, LLC
(903) 938-6420