VC-Backed Bust: Proficiency Inc.
Proficiency Inc., a Marlborough, Mass.-based provider of product knowledge integration and CAD interoperability solutions to manufacturers and their suppliers, appears to have ceased operations. It had raised over $70 million in VC funding since 1998, with its most recent infusion coming in early 2008. At its peak, the company had around 150 employees and five global offices (HQ, Texas, Israel, France and Germany). A source familiar with the situation says the company has a small debt-load (sub-$1m), and is in talks to sell its assets to a strategic buyer in Ohio. I rang up Proficiency CEO Alex Shapira at his Texas home, but he declined to comment or confirm the company's current status (said he had to confer with unnamed others). Proficiency was originally seeded by Concord Ventures, and soon after raised $10 million at a $22 million post-money valuation from Ticonderoga Capital and Charles River Ventures. Its valuation would rise to $57.5 million following a $27.4 million Series C round in 2001, which included return backers and
