EditGrid Announces Series A Funding from WI Harper

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We are very pleased to announce today a US$1.25M series A funding by WI Harper into the parent company of Team and Concepts Limited, the Hongkong-based company that develop EditGrid - a leading online spreadsheet technology. The transaction is fully completed as of today. WI Harper is also the investor of Laszlo Systems and Maxthon, with offices in San Francisco, Beijing and Taipei.

Here is a brief “FAQ” in celebration of this announcement:

1 Brief History?

EditGrid is built by the 8-people company Team and Concepts Limited (TnC). TnC developed event software. Event organisers are intensive spreadsheet users. The actual development of EditGrid began in January 2006 with funding from Silicon Valley-based angel investors and matching fund from the Hongkong government. In April 2006, EditGrid was launched as Public Beta. 2 months later, Google launched Google Spreadsheets, waking up the whole market. We keep improving the product and launching new features frequently. We are in the quest for the best online spreadsheet. And judging from the feedbacks we’ve received, I think we have been doing a pretty good job. Here is what the others have to say about us:

EditGrid got out of beta on 14th February, 2007 and launched subscription services. We then announced partnership with Central Desktop, Salesforce.com, ShareMethods, StartForce and ThinkFree.

Our strategy is to focus on our technology and work with partners to deliver the best online spreadsheet in context.

We do online spreadsheet the way Google do search. It is our core business.

2 Why do it when Google is there?

To start with, we’re here before Google. Online spreadsheet is more of an enterprise application. The enterprise market is huge and very fragmented. As a generic and powerful product that would prove essential in many use-cases, EditGrid is appealing to a large variety of partners who would like to join force with us.

EditGrid is taking a pretty unique position.

3 Why do it when everyone use desktop spreadsheet, e.g. MS Excel?

EditGrid boasts the most popular 80% of functionalities in MS Excel. More of our effort is spent on going beyond MS Excel and traditional spreadsheet applications, and leveraging the web. EditGrid is here to re-define spreadsheet. Our innovations include:

  • Real-time Collaboration: multiple people can access and edit the same spreadsheet at the same time with updates synchronised to all active instances of the same spreadsheet.
  • Remote Data: Live data on the web can be connected to designated cells and be used in calculations. Currently we can retrieve stock quote, currency exchange rate and even generic web content from the web.
  • My Data Format: EditGrid can export data in XML format. User’s data exported to XML can be transformed to other formats using XML Stylesheet Transformation (XSLT) through EditGrid’s My Data Format (MDF) feature. This technology is useful for exchanging data between enterprise applications, especially XML-enabled ones.
  • Data and Partner API: EditGrid has a comprehensive API layer. The EditGrid Data API allows manipulations of data stored in EditGrid spreadsheet. The EditGrid Partner API further supports user provisioning and can be used to incorporate EditGrid on the partner’s platform on a white-label basis.

We have lots of exciting new features in our pipeline. Now with more resources, we are devoted to make EditGrid even better!

4 What’s next?

Microsoft defines spreadsheet with MS Excel. It has become entrenched as part of the “Office” set-up. Our take of online spreadsheet is that it will be the second most important online application after email - the proposition we are working on.

5 About WI Harper

With close to $400M under management, WI Harper is one of the first U.S.-based venture capital firms to create a value-adding bridge between the United States and Greater China. For nearly a decade, WI Harper has been building companies internationally by facilitating the flow of capital, technology and management best practices across both sides of the Pacific. The Firm is focused on fueling companies at early expansion stage within Internet, wireless, digital media and life science / healthcare sectors. WI Harper’s star portfolios include Focus Media, DivX, Beijing Xinwei, Bridge Pharmaceutical, Cardiva Medical, Commerce One, Celestry, Intraware, iKang Healthcare, MJ Group, Panorama Stock, SirF, 3G.CN, Maxthon and Verisilicon. More information can be found at: www.wiharper.com.

6 About TnC and EditGrid

Team and Concepts (TnC) is a Hong Kong-based company and creator of EditGrid online spreadsheets. Founded in 2003 by David K. F. Lee and partners, TnC began as a software service provider for event organizers. Accumulated experience in serving intensive spreadsheet users, TnC later launched EditGrid in April 2006. It soon evolved into the leading online spreadsheet service. David K. F. Lee was nominated by BusinessWeek magazine as one of Asia’s Best Entrepreneurs under 25 in August 2006. For more information, visit http://www.editgrid.com/ .

One Response to “EditGrid Announces Series A Funding from WI Harper”

  1. John S Says:

    Congrats!

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