News Release

Today we announced that Bridgescale invested in next generation teaching software company, Axonify. Axonify, formerly 17muscles, is pioneering the use of social media and gamification to corporate training. The e-learning market is a $30 billion market and it is ripe for innovation.  Currently, 40 million users log into social gaming every day. We believe a good number of these gamers are employed by some of the world’s largest corporate organizations and that they could greatly benefit from Axonify’s training.

Axonify has already penetrated some of the largest US retailers who are currently using their technology to train employees in a fun and productive way.  Axonify uses some of the most recognized research on this subject matter to focus on retention, not just training.

Bridgescale’s deep expertise in understanding next generation human resource management software makes Axonify a great fit for our investment thesis.

Smyth Will Lead and Source North American Investments For Leading Growth Equity Firm

MENLO PARK, Calif. and TORONTO, Ontario, October 20, 2010 – Bridgescale Partners, a California- and Toronto- based growth equity firm providing equity to high growth information technology companies, today announced Derek Smyth joined the firm as Managing Director.  Smyth, a venture and technology industry veteran with an extensive operating background as a CEO, will leverage his company building experience and broad network to originate, source and manage new investment opportunities for Bridgescale Partners throughout Canada and the United States.  Smyth has served on the board of many of Canada’s leading early stage companies and compliments Bridgescale Partners’ Howard Gwin in Canada as well as the U.S. investment team.

“Derek’s operating expertise in both Silicon Valley and Canada as well as his excellent venture capital track record make him a great addition to the Bridgescale team,” said Robert Chaplinsky, Managing Director, Bridgescale Partners. “He complements our existing team of experienced investment professionals.  We expect Derek to hit the ground running and make an immediate impact to the firm.”  

“Derek brings a diverse network of relationships to the Bridgescale platform, which will enable us to attract exciting new investment opportunities in the U.S. and Canada,” said Matthew Cowan, Managing Director, Bridgescale Partners.

Over the past six years, Smyth served as a Partner at EdgeStone Capital Partners, L.P (“EdgeStone”). At EdgeStone, Smyth sourced and managed investments for EdgeStone’s Venture Funds and was involved with the funds’ portfolio companies including: Decision Dynamics (acq. ACFN); Maximum Throughput (acq. AVID); Rapidmind (acq. INTC) RSS Solutions (acq. INFOR); and Solace Systems.  Smyth currently serves on the Board of Directors of CiRBA, RedMere Technology, Rypple, Shoplogix and Varicent. Smyth will continue to manage the existing Edgestone Venture Fund portfolio in partnership with the Bridgescale team.

“With Bridgescale Partners, I look forward to leveraging my experience and network to identify the best investment opportunities and play a key role in the growth and development of American and Canadian high-growth startups,” said Derek Smyth, Managing Director, Bridgescale Partners.

Prior to joining EdgeStone, Smyth was President and CEO of Bridgewater Systems Corporation (TSX: BWC). Before joining Bridgewater Systems, he held the position of COO at Ironside Technologies. Previously, he held a number of positions with Bay Networks and Radius Inc.

Bridgescale has significant experience working with both American and Canadian entrepreneurs and companies. Bridgescale is currently an investor in Bluecat Networks, Cortina Systems, Digital Chocolate, IMVU, IronKey, Jasper Wireless, Neonova Networks, Nest Naturals, Proofpoint, Carrier IQ, Xactly and Rypple.

Dayforce’s On-Demand Solution Offers Companies an Immediate Improvement in Operational Efficiency

Menlo Park, CA – July 8, 2010 – Dayforce (www.dayforce.com), a leading provider of on-demand workforce management solutions, announced today that the company has raised $10m lead by Bridgescale Partners.  The investment will be made in two stages with the first stage of $5m closing today and the remaining $5m expected to close within the month.  This brings the total investment to date in the company to over $20m. As part of this investment, Howard Gwin and Rob Chaplinsky of Bridgescale Partners will join Dayforce’s Board of Directors.  The investment will provide the necessary resources for Dayforce to rapidly grow its user base of industry-leading organizations.

“Bridgescale Partners’ investment is further validation of Dayforce’s position as the industry leader in Workforce Management,” said David Ossip, CEO and President of Dayforce.  “Our solution gives every decision maker in an organization the insight to understand corporate goals, the confidence to measurably improve business performance, and the power to make their company more profitable.”

“Dayforce has the first solution that I have seen that delivers the potential for full enterprise user adoption – the ‘holy grail’ for getting value from a SaaS product.  With Dayforce, workforce management moves from something I have to do to something that I want to do – and this makes the offering truly disruptive,” said Howard Gwin, Partner of Bridgescale and former EVP, Worldwide Operations at PeopleSoft. “Additionally, as a three-time repeat successful entrepreneur, David Ossip’s exceptional track record of building and leading high-growth companies was a strong factor in our investment decision,” Gwin added.

Dayforce bridges the real-world gap between workforce performance and enterprise performance. The solution helps organizations plan, deploy and track their workforce to corporate goals in a single application.

Dayforce’s proprietary technology allows the solution to meet the needs of organizations of all sizes, resulting in long-term, sustainable growth in a previously underserved market.  Dayforce has significant built-in functionality, works on any PC, and requires far less implementation services than competitors’ products to get up and running. Dayforce also integrates seamlessly with third-party systems with minimal effort and eliminates many of the headaches of traditional on-premise deployment.

About Dayforce

Dayforce offers a complete workforce management solution with functionality that includes time and attendance, labor scheduling, labor forecasting, labor budgeting, labor analytics, task management, human resources and employee self-service. The company has set itself apart from competitors with its vastly superior user experience, much faster application, and by providing significantly greater business value. For more information, please visit www.dayforce.com.

About Bridgescale Partners

Bridgescale Partners is a Menlo Park, California based growth equity firm providing expansion capital to U.S. and Canada-based, later-stage technology companies.  The investment team has more than 50+ years of venture capital experience investing in early- and later-stage technology companies.  Additionally, the team has invested in more than 100 technology companies in the software, security, digital media, Internet, and communication markets.  For more information, please visit www.bridgescale.com.

MEDIA CONTACTS:

• Lisa Tarter
• TidalWave PR for Bridgescale Partners
• Phone: 415 203 2462
• Email: Lisa@tidalwavepr.com

• Warren Perlman
• Dayforce
• Phone: 416 987 2987 x 2212
• Email: wperlman@dayforce.com