Earlier this week we announced that DotNetNuke has raised venture capital from a syndicate of tier 1 venture capital firms, August Capital and Sierra Ventures. Considering the current state of the global economy, this announcement is a huge vote of confidence in our product and community, and a testament to the global impact we have made on the industry. It means that DotNetNuke Corporation is now going to be able to deliver on its promise of rapidly innovating the DotNetNuke platform and creating new opportunities for participants in our ecosystem.
So the first questions are probably: "How much?" and "What are you going to do with it?". Well, we're not going to provide details of the amount raised, other than its market rate for a project of our size and stature. Rather than boast about the valuation, we prefer to remain in stealth mode and focus on delivering exceptional value to the market. We are going to strengthen the company and offer products and services that increase DotNetNuke adoption worldwide. The funding allows us to recruit expert resources, establish a physical presence, purchase equipment, and create a sales and marketing team. Rapidly growing a dominant software platform is not cheap, especially if you have a very large vision.
Our fundraising journey began 18 months ago and it has been an incredible educational experience. Meeting with some of the best and brightest minds in commercial open source definitely helped us hone our business plan, our goals, our messaging, and prepare us for the future. I am really proud that we were able to attract such high quality investors and advisors, people that intimately understand the development and distribution benefit of the open source model and are willing to work with us to achieve much greater success.
Now that the money is in the bank, our first task is to solidify our operating plan for the next year and then acquire the resources necessary to execute on the plan. Strategic focus will be applied to the DotNetNuke web application framework, professional products and services, the DotNetNuke Marketplace, and evangelizing and building greater awareness for DotNetNuke worldwide.
Overall, I think there has never been a time of greater potential in the DotNetNuke community. I am proud of what we have accomplished and look forward to the next step in our journey.