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Sugar.Sales represents a new generation of commercial grade CRM applications built for and optimized to run on a pure Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP (LAMP) open source software platform. Made available under an open source software license
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CUPERTINO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 2, 2004--SugarCRM Inc., developer of the world's fastest growing commercial open source customer relationship management application (CRM) today announced the immediate availability of Sugar.Sales 1.1 for worldwide download at [HYPERLINK@www.sugarcrm.com.] Sugar.Sales represents a new generation of commercial grade CRM applications built for and optimized to run on a pure Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP (LAMP) open source software platform. Made available under an open source software license, Sugar.Sales was developed leveraging the combined ideas and contributed code of CRM developers' worldwide. The result is a customer relationship management application on par with the proprietary and expensive applications from established CRM software and hosting providers.
Designed to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of sales forces, Sugar.Sales 1.1 delivers all the core sales force automation functionality required to manage large selling organizations. From managing new leads to closing opportunities, Sugar.Sales both helps sales professionals win business and helps sales managers identify trends and drive results. Core Sugar.Sales modules include lead tracking, contact, account, opportunity and activity management, and an executive dashboard with pre-built charting, including sales pipeline analysis. SugarCRM is also beta testing a Microsoft Outlook Plug-in that allows sales professionals to easily attach emails to contact and account records contained within the SugarCRM database.
Prevalent Networks, an early adopter of SugarCRM, has already deployed Sugar.Sales for its sales force. "After using a commercial CRM package that required supporting software on desktops, Prevalent Networks is excited to be using an open source alternative that gives us better, browser-based functionality. Sugar.Sales is a terrific application which we are already using to grow our business and communicate more effectively," says Jonathan Dambrot, Partner.
Commercial open source applications will dramatically change the CRM business applications market. "When you build a commercial grade CRM application utilizing the combined ideas and resources from CRM developers across the globe, you simply produce a better, more revolutionary product than any one proprietary software or hosting company can think-up and build on its own," says John Roberts, CEO of SugarCRM Inc. Sugar.Sales was conceived, designed, built and tested on the Internet in near real-time. In less than two months SugarCRM has had over 6,500 downloads of its software and over 100,000 visitors to its open source project and sugarcrm.com websites.
"We believe our open source business model is far more efficient than the classic approach to building propriety CRM software. We do not believe in the notion of hiding access to code in order to lock-in customers. Our customers have full access to our source code, our bug lists, and our detailed feature roadmap and can even contribute code themselves. This is how great products are built today," says Roberts.
Concurrent with the release of Sugar.Sales 1.1, SugarCRM also announced today that it has secured $2 million in a Series A financing from premier Silicon Valley venture capital firm, Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) -- one of the first and largest investments in a commercial open source 'applications' startup. "We believe commercial open source software is absolutely going to change the face of the established business applications industry. It was clear to us that SugarCRM has the right team, the right product and the market momentum to become the dominant company in commercial open source CRM," says Josh Stein of DFJ, who recently joined the company's board of directors. SugarCRM plans to utilize this new funding to strengthen its engineering team and to further extend its worldwide, collaborative development infrastructure.
About SugarCRM Inc.:
SugarCRM provides commercial open source customer relationship management applications for companies of all sizes worldwide. SugarCRM was founded in 2004 by three Silicon Valley CRM professionals with over twenty years of experience spanning marketing, application design and engineering. The company is headquartered in Cupertino, California and can be reached by email at [e-mail:contact@sugarcrm.com], or visit the website [HYPERLINK@www.sugarcrm.com.]
About Draper Fisher Jurvetson:
Draper Fisher Jurvetson is the premier early stage venture capital firm. Founded in 1985, Draper Fisher Jurvetson has created a global network of affiliated venture funds with approximately $3 billion in capital commitments and offices in the major technology centers around the world. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, the firm has proven expertise in identifying and helping extraordinary entrepreneurs who want to change the world.
Contacts
SugarCRM Inc.
Tara Smith, 408-234-5449
[e-mail:tara@sugarcrm.com]
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