WebSideStory Gets $30 Million Equity Investment

WebSideStory, a provider of Internet tracking and traffic analysis, received a $30 million investment from Summit Partners and TA Associates, which are taking a minority position in the company.

The two firms acquired shares from WebSideStory’s founders and contributed a portion of the investment to the company.

This marks the first outside investment in WebSideStory, which says it has been profitable throughout its nearly three years of existence. The company was originally founded in 1996 by a French couple, Blaise and Agnes Barrelet, who have managed growth to date entirely with retained earnings.

“Though we have been approached a number of times, I never saw the logic in giving up control of the company by going the typical venture capital route,” said Blaise Barrelet, founder and CEO of WebSideStory. “But I do recognize that influential, business-savvy investors can help us grow the company to its full potential.”

“Our philosophy is to invest in and support rapidly growing and profitable private companies with outstanding management teams,” said Walter Kortschak, general partner at Summit Partners. “WebSideStory meets these criteria, and we look forward to our partnership with the company and contributing to its further success.”

“. . .we invest in profitable companies with proven management and technologies. WebSideStory is a perfect fit and we anticipate it will enjoy tremendous growth in the coming years,” said Benjamin Ball, vice president with TA Associates.

WebSideStory is the creator of HitBOX Tracker, Web traffic analysis technology; HitBOX.com, a community of independent Web sites ranked by traffic; StatMarket.com, a source of data on Internet user trends; and Yep.com, a search engine based on popularity and quality.