In Brief: BankBoston Unit Leads $5M Financing

BancBoston Ventures last week said it led an investor group in a $5 million round of venture capital financing for Silknet Software Inc.

The financing also attracted Vertex Management Inc., a San Francisco venture capital firm; CMG Ventures, the investment affiliate of Andover, Mass.-based CMG Information Services; and Zero Stage Capital, a Cambridge, Mass.-based venture capital firm.

Proceeds from the offering will be used to increase staff in development, sales, and marketing.

CMG and Zero Stage also invested in Silknet's first financing of $2.5 million, said sources at Silknet. The initial investors brought Silknet's story to the attention of BancBoston Ventures, which saw the company as an investment opportunity.

Based in Manchester, N.H., Silknet develops customer-service systems that companies can use via the Internet. The company's flagship product, EService, is used by Pacific Bell Internet Services. "Customer self-service support is going to be a very important aspect of any Internet site," said John Doggett, vice president of BancBoston Ventures. "We think this represents a new model for customer service."

BancBoston Ventures, the venture capital arm of BankBoston Corp., generally invests $1 million to $3 million in young companies in the health care and technology sectors.

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