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Allurent(TM), the Rich Internet Applications for Commerce Company, announced that it has closed its first round of venture funding. Led by Polaris Venture Partners, the funding will be used to further develop and expand Allurent's suite of AJAX Rich Internet Applications (RIA) that are currently being deployed by leading multichannel retailers across the Web. In addition, Jon Flint, founder and managing partner of Polaris and an original investor in both Allaire (now part of Adobe) and Powersoft (now part of Sybase (NYSE: SY)), joins Allurent's board of directors. Sim Simeonov, technology partner at Polaris and former vice president of emerging technologies at Macromedia and founding member and chief architect at Allaire also joins the company as a board observer and company advisor. Sim is the creator of the first Rich Internet Application development platform (Adobe(R) Flex(TM) and Adobe's Macromedia(R) Flash(R)).
By combining the deep user experience expertise of the founders of ATG (Nasdaq: ARTG) with the rich media experience of the former chief architect of Allaire and former vice president at Macromedia, Allurent is further establishing its leadership position in RIA and Web 2.0 to deliver the next generation of e-commerce applications. Allurent is currently developing a suite of RIAs that dramatically improve the online shopping experience, which significantly increases brand equity for retailers who recognize the need to differentiate themselves online and drive higher conversion rates. The first application in the suite, Allurent BUY, is currently available and is being implemented by several large, multichannel retailers.
"The combined synergies of Polaris and Allurent makes perfect sense - the executives at both organizations were at the forefront of the first phase of Web development and e-commerce, and their collective experience positions the company to be one of the leaders of the next phase that folks are currently calling Web 2.0," said David Mendels, senior vice president, Enterprise and Developer Solutions Business Unit at Adobe.
Allurent's application suite leverages Adobe's widely-deployed Flash and Flex technologies to make the online shopping experience more dynamic, responsive, and intuitive.
Jon Flint and Sim Simeonov join Allurent's other strategic investors and advisors, including Alex D'Arbeloff; Bob Forlenza; Scott Jones; Bob Maginn; Nicholas Negroponte; and Jeff Newton.
About Polaris
Established in 1996, with offices in Waltham and Seattle, Polaris has over $3 billion under management. Polaris Venture Partners have helped build numerous market leading companies, including Accordant Health Services, Advanced Inhalation Research, Akamai Technologies, Allaire, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, American Superconductor, Aspect Medical Systems, Avici Systems, Centra Software, Classifieds2000, deCODE genetics, Exchange.com, Matrics, Microbia, Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Paradigm Genetics, Powersoft, PSCI, SolidWorks and TransForm Pharmaceuticals.
About Allurent
Headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., Allurent is the Rich Internet Applications for Commerce company. Allurent is developing a suite of Rich Internet Applications focused on the full life cycle of online shopping, from finding and browsing products to pageless order management and checkout. Each application dramatically improves customer experience, significantly enhancing the retailer's on-line brand, driving greater conversion rates, and building customer loyalty. Allurent also partners with other leading software providers, including ATG, Scene7 and Omniture. For additional information please visit www.allurent.com.
