Venture capital funds invest in Parkers’ Edge

Internet banking software developer Parkers’ Edge is to receive a cash injection of more than $5 million dollars from two venture capital funds.

Local venture capital funds Newport Technology Fund and the Challenger managed E-Finanical will be contributing $5.4 million to the software company which has implemented more than 80 per cent of Australia and New Zealand's Internet banking sites.

Parkers' Edge founder and chief executive Janet Parker says most of the funding has been delievred in several tranches, with the remainder to filter in over the next four to five months. She says that Parkers' Edge went to market looking for new funding to capitalise upon the fact that the technology offered by the company is as advanced, if not more, than any available in the US.

"Our software offers real time capabilities to the financial services industry, whereas they don't have this in the US," she says. "We think there is a major opportunity to expand our product range in Australia, but also throughout Europe and Asia."

Parkers' Edge products range from account aggregation software, of which their nettposition is the flagship product, to a suite of off-the-shelf Internet banking products, which are now packaged with software exclusively designed by Parkers' Edge.

Parker says the cash boost will be used towards a distribution agreement with Compaq who have undertaken to roll out Parkers' Edge banking and finance products in Australia, New Zealand and Asia.

Compaq is also a major investor in the Newport Technology Fund, and the companies are presently engaged in talks about whether Compaq will be increasing its share in Parkers' Edge held indirectly through the Newport fund.

"We are also targeting financial planners - there is a huge opportunity in that market for the software that we design," she says. "I'm talking right across the board, from the large dealer houses to individual planners, particularly our account aggregation software."

Parkers' Edge began its life six years ago in Auckland in the telephone banking market. Then when the Internet took off in the late 90s, they ventured into designing Internet software for such clients as Ansett and the University of Auckland. In the last three years the company has focused on finance and banking on the Internet, which Parker regards in hindsight as fortuitous.

"We were left totally unscathed by the dotcom meltdown [last year]," she says.