blueKiwi partners Dassault to bring social networking to business

Funding

Dassault Systèmes and blueKiwi Software, a pioneer of enterprise social software, are joining forces to bring social networking applications to business.

At the same time Dassault has taken a minority stake in blueKiwi as part of a €4.7 million second round of funding.

The funding is among the largest in France in the year to date on the small caps market. According to the market analysts Gartner, the enterprise social software market is forecast to grow from $317.5 million in 2007 to $939.4 million worldwide in 2012, a compound annual growth rate of 24.4 per cent.

blueKIWI, founded by Carlos Diaz and Christophe Routhieau in 2006, now has 45,000 users with customers and partners in France, Belgium, Germany, UK and Scandinavia.

Sofinnova Partners, who funded the company in June 2007, participated in the new round and remains the leading investor. Dassault invested more than €3 million.

“We are thrilled to complete this second [round] and to welcome such a first class industrial partner as Dassault Systèmes,” said Carlos Diaz, CEO of blueKiwi Software. “This strategic alliance will allow us to accelerate our international expansion.”

Bernard Charles, CEO of Dassault Systèmes, said, “blueKiwi and Dassault share the same vision of social innovation in which enterprise social networks will revolutionise the connecting of people, ideas and experiences. By combining our unique strengths, we are building a worldwide leader in social software.”

blueKiwi’s software platform can be used to implement and manage secure social networks with partners, customers and colleagues. Its software-as-a-service offering integrates familiar Web 2.0 services, such as wikis, blogs, forums, RSS and tagging.

The blueKiwi application complements Dassault Systèmes’ Social Innovation vision and V6 platform. The company believes the use of social networking in the professional world will revolutionise the way people work and interact.

“The current business environment reveals a growing disconnect between consumer requirements and available products, between employees and their companies. The new consumer buying behaviour, as well as different employee working experiences, create new needs and require businesses to adap”t, said Bernard Charlès, President and CEO of Dassault Systemes. “Social Innovation is about connecting individuals, ideas and virtual experiences, and leveraging social networking capabilities.” People can become participants in the innovation processes, either in their role as a consumer or as an employee, Charlès said.