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Weekly Start-up
Company Name: Business Layers
The name is Business Layers. It was founded only at the beginning of 1999,
and has already gathered an array of smiling funds and prestigious potential
beta sites (the product is planned for release on the market in March 2000).
Apart from the winning combination of entrepreneurs, the start-up has all
the buzz words of "what is needed" nowadays: Internet, technological depth,
enterprises, and some business-to-business.
What is this team up to? In enterprises, technology currently plays a vital
role in work procedures. This is nothing new. But how do you best organize
all this system of services and resources so that it will operate
efficiently? Suppose a salesman comes to a company. What does he require? If
we think in American terms for a moment, he requires a laptop computer,
authorized computer access, a PC, pager, palm pilot with a hook-up to
customer databases for his region, for a start.
Now that we know what he requires, it needs to be provided. A small part of
the list is still manually done, such as acquiring a computer, but most of
it can already be accomplished by the technological resources of the
enterprise. Business Layers allocates the enterprise's digital resources and
services according to its priorities, and through the use of its information
systems.
The information systems include the enterprise's internal network - the
Intranet; the external network - the Extranet, through which the enterprise
is connected to suppliers and other concerns; and the Internet. Allocating
these resources is known as "eprovisioning", a term, and brand initiated by
Business Layers.
For example, taking on a new employee is just one of the applications of
this technology. The company is also planning similar applications to manage
ties with customers and suppliers, opening of new offices and so on. The
applications use a platform that is evoking interest among the world's
well-known players, such as Novell and Microsoft, which are currently very
busy with their own version of active data storage, based on directories
that enable network tools and applications to access them and collect
information.
Business Layers built an infrastructure, called "eprovisionware", that is
compatible with the directories and on which the applications the company is
developing will be installed. The giants are each trying to attract players
to their own playing field, and are cooperating with the Israeli start-up.
Business Layers was also very popular at the CA International annual
convention, and no wonder. The company's products fit in exactly with CA's
products.
For the time being, CA is treating Business Layers very nicely. However,
company president and CEO Izhar Shay does not rule out the possibility that
CA or other competitors (such as IBM's Tivoli) will develop rival products.
"Our most difficult competitors are the ones we have not yet identified,"
says Shay. "The sector has been defined by analysts as the hottest field in
the next five years. Start-ups are constantly set up. There are no doubt
people in workshops in Silicon Valley and Boston with a great deal of money
who are developing rival products. It's our basic working assumption, and we
must therefore rush forward even faster." Emerging as a competitor is
Obelix, that started as a directories company and changed direction.
Now for the team introductions: David Lavenda (vice president for marketing)
worked at Daisy, joined a start-up called Informix and worked at IP
Highways; Avi Zamir (president of US activities) was president of Radcom US
until recently; Amir Weinstein (vice president for engineering) holds an
M.Sc. in Computer Science, worked with Yigal Jacoby at Armon, which was sold
to Bay Networks, worked at IBM, Elron and another start-up; Izhar Shay
(president and CEO), an electronics engineer who worked as a software
engineer at Motorola and Rad, set up a consulting firm for start-ups and was
an investment manager at BRM.
At the end of 1998, Shay told his friends about an idea he had. Shay: "The
four of us tossed it around scientifically. We offered it to BRM for
investment, but they were unwilling. We went to several clients in order to
understand whether the problem we thought was bothering enterprises, really
was what they were experiencing. We made a presentation that, at the time,
we believed to be excellent for all sorts of important companies. Once they
committed themselves to working with us, we told ourselves that it was
worthwhile founding a start-up, and we got started energetically on
recruiting staff."
The Business Layers entrepreneurs discovered a red carpet spread out in
front of them. "We had a 'long' round of capital raising - two weeks," says
Shay. Among the investors were venture capital funds Formula Ventures and
Israel Seed Partners (it seems every company reported on these days includes
ISP among its investors), and the serial entrepreneur Yigal Jacoby, who
launched Armon, Allot and GlobaLoop.
The company raised $2 million in its initial capital raising round.
Shay:
"We opened an office in the US immediately. We wanted to have an immediate
presence in the market and not work on development underground. The concept
was to work straight away with enterprises willing to be early adopters of
the technologies. Not everyone is willing. Some threw us out of the door,
telling us to 'come back when you become a big company'". The price of the
software is $30,000. In addition, the company charges $30 a profile (for
example, for each new employee entering the system). It means that the
average deal for a medium size enterprise totals $100,000.
Rumor has it that the company is currently raising $5-8 million at a company
value of $25-30 million after money. At the moment, Business Layers refuses
to comment on this capital raising round.
"Globes": You are entrepreneurs 'par excellence', and everyone is courting
you.
Shay: "We are a serious team headed for the market in a big way. I believe
that's the only way to set up a company these days. Because of our
backgrounds, we make a good impression on investors, and because of our
experience in investments, we seem to speak their language. Don't forget
that, with all due respect, a start-up's success boils down to chance and
probability. We're trying to increase the probability."
Published by Israel's Business Arena on October 25, 1999
Contact: Izhar Shay, President and CEO | |
