GoIndustry gets EU42m

The investment came from Nasdaq-listed Internet Capital Group (ICG) and venture capital company Atlas Venture. The financial details were not disclosed but GoIndustry revealed that ICG invested more than AVP, which put in EU10m in October 1999.

Andrew Heath, chief executive of GoIndustry, said the new funds will be used finance the sourcing of new equipment and equipment classes, and expansion into Asia and South America. “We required an amount of funding that is slightly less than what we received,” Heath said. “But the reason we've ended up with the number raised, is that we had strong interest in putting the money to work, and knew we could suffer extra.”

Heath explained that, “If we are indeed heading towards a situation where over several months dotcom companies require cash, and where that funding is really costing management time to find, then it is not a bad thing to raise more now than we might have ideally hoped for. It's a question of how sensitive you are to dilution, but at the end of the day we are all about trying to build a business and make money, and we can make it work.”