Billserv.com Inc., a new player in the emerging bill payment and presentment business, has raised $4.1 million from eight private investors.
The six-month-old company consolidates electronic bills at a secure Web site, letting consumers view and pay them. Its founders, former executives of another bill publisher, Billing Concepts Corp., expect the cash infusion will fund operations for the next 18 months.
The company's service, expected to be launched this year, would present bills at an Internet site of the consumer's choosing-such as Intuit Inc.'s Quicken, Microsoft Corp.'s Money, a bank, or an Internet portal.
With Billserv.com acting as a switching service, "the biller only has to have one relationship in the transaction, and that is us," said Michael Long, chairman and CEO of Billserv.com of San Antonio.
The company has a letter of intent to do business with Checkfree Corp., a leader in bill payment and presentment.
"It's not a new concept they are trying to get out here, and it is not anything different than what any of the existing players are saying about their own services," said David C. Stewart, vice president of Global Concepts Inc., Atlanta.
The company's one million shares, which trade publicly, closed Friday at $3.40, up 63 cents for the week.
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CyberCash Inc. has raised $10 million in equity through a private placement of common stock and warrants from funds managed by Rose Glen Capital Management LP and Palladin Group LP.
The company said the funding will go toward marketing and support of CyberCash's InstaBuy, which lets on-line merchants sell goods and services to Web site visitors.
Gary Craft, an analyst at BancBoston Robertson Stephens, said the infusion will help CyberCash fund continuing losses. "They are still at a negative-cash operating position," he said.
CyberCash lost $7.6 million in the third quarter on revenues of $4.5 million. The Reston, Va., company's stockclosed at $20.75, up $5.625 for the week.
