In a move which will no doubt factor greatly into its strategy to grow rapidly through strategic acquisitions, hosted call center solutions company TouchStar (News - Alert) has reportedly secured additional financing from SVB Silicon Valley Bank, a leading commercial bank which lends to technology and life science companies.

TouchStar -- which specializes in unified communications, call center systems, VoIP enablement, and multi-language workflow applications -- will use the additional financing to acquire additional companies and to accelerate its growth in the enterprise market and emerging international markets. In the past three years the company has acquired three direct competitors: In late 2005, it acquired New York City-based Digisoft Computers, Inc., which offers software based contact center solutions and the leading scripting tool available on the market. Then in December 2006 the company acquired Davenport, Iowa-based Sigmaworx Inc. (formerly ETS), one of the original predictive dialing solutions which had over 2,000 legacy customers. This was a move which significantly increased TouchStar’s market share. And most recently, in November 2007, the company acquired Phoenix-based Data-Tel Info Solutions, a provider of hosted, turn-key call center solutions, which are primarily geared for the telemarketing industry. In all cases, TouchStar has maintained the full product lines of the companies it has acquired. That means it has expanded its suite of offerings with each acquisition and has thus further broadened its market reach. Rather than taking the approach of integrating all of the products into one, “be all,” “end all” solution geared for every sized company in every vertical imaginable, TouchStar has taken the more sensible approach of offering a diverse fleet of solutions which are tailored for specific industries.

TouchStar is reportedly evaluating additional acquisitions of competitors and value added technology companies.

TouchStar is increasingly targeting the Tier 1 enterprise market and recently introduced its new 2008 Enterprise Call Center System, which provides high scalability, redundancy and the functionality needed to connect thousands of call center agents in multiple locations anywhere in the world. Built from the ground up on proprietary code, the tightly integrated system offers functionality which is critical to modern call centers seeking to expand their use of remote labor resources and unified communications. Interfacing options include a new Application Programming Interface (API), an updated Microsoft (News - Alert) SQL database structure, several new web services, and a scripting tool that can connect to multiple real time data sources. The platform also offers the security and regulatory compliance requirements that are essential for enterprise clients. This enterprise offering augments the company’s wide selection of contact center solutions for the SMB market.

TouchStar is actively building new channels in emerging global markets such as South America, Eastern Europe, and Asia. It is achieving growth through the addition of new resellers and partners in these markets, as well as doing ongoing direct sales.

Shawn Suhrstedt, CFO of TouchStar, said the company is happy to be using Silicon Valley Bank “because of their experience with rapidly growing technology companies.”

“SVB stood out as the partner that could best support TouchStar's plan to surpass one hundred million dollars in revenue in two years,” he said in a press release. “They have been extremely responsive and have demonstrated their understanding of the industry we are in.”

"TouchStar's performance and its growth opportunities within its market are promising," added Ryan Incorvaia , deal team leader from SVB Silicon Valley Bank's Colorado office. "We're proud to be TouchStar's financial partner and we look forward to providing the company the financial resources it needs to fuel its growth."

For more information about TouchStar visit www.touchstar.com.

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Patrick Barnard is Assignment Editor for TMCnet and Associate Editor for Customer Interaction Solutions magazine. To see more of his articles, please visit Patrick Barnard’s columnist page.

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