EXHIBIT 99.1
[PERSISTENCE LETTERHEAD / LOGO]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PRESS RELEASE
Editorial Contacts: Professional Investment Community and Media:
- ------------------- --------------------------------------------
Rebecca Young
Persistence Software, Inc. Joe Diaz or Michael Bailey
650-372-3661 RCG Capital Markets Group, Inc.
ryoung@persistence.com (480) 675-0400
Ana Bolitho/Liz Barrass
KAIZO
Tel: + 44 (0) 20 7580 8852
ana.bolitho@kaizo.net or
liz.barrass@kaizo.net
PERSISTENCE SOFTWARE RECEIVES $2 MILLION EQUITY
INVESTMENT FROM NEEDHAM CAPITAL PARTNERS
SAN MATEO, CALIF. -- NOVEMBER 27, 2002 -- Persistence(R) Software
(NASDAQ: PRSW), a provider of data services software for distributed data access
and management, today announced that Needham Capital Partners has made a $2.0
million equity investment by purchasing 3,758,692 shares of newly issued
Persistence common stock in a private placement at a price of $0.53 per share.
The Company is not obligated to file a registration with the Securities and
Exchange Commission in order to register the shares for resale until the later
of 30 days after the Company files its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year
ended December 31, 2002 or April 30, 2003. Needham also received warrants to
purchase an additional 1,205,130 shares at $0.75 per share.
As part of the investment, Thomas P. Shanahan, General Partner of
Needham Capital Partners, will join the Persistence Board of Directors. "We are
pleased to begin an association with Persistence and its experienced management
team," commented Tom Shanahan.
"Having an investor of Needham's caliber take a significant position in
our stock is an important validation of our business strategy," said Chris
Keene, president and CEO of Persistence Software. "The Needham organization has
long been one of the driving forces in the financing and development of emerging
technologies. We believe that this commitment from an industry thought leader
like Needham reinforces the business plan that Persistence management has
developed and speaks to the compelling value proposition Persistence offers to
customers worldwide."
The Company intends to use the net proceeds from the financing for
general corporate purposes.
ABOUT PERSISTENCE
Persistence Software provides a data services infrastructure that brings vital
business information to global decision makers without the expense of replicated
data centers. Global 2000 corporations can cost-effectively deliver vital
information to professionals throughout the enterprise so actions can be taken
to streamline business processes, improve supply chain management, boost
employee productivity, enhance customer relationships and heighten levels of
customer satisfaction. Persistence's innovative product family provides an
improvement in the quality of the user experience by maintaining data integrity
and accuracy at multiple levels throughout the enterprise without replicating
databases. Customers of Persistence experience greater access to accurate
information, quicker response times, improved productivity and increased
scalability, all for lower cost than was previously possible. Persistence is the
supplier to many Fortune 2000 companies who have complex, data-intensive
applications that must support real-time decision making in many locations.
Persistence Software's technology has been licensed to Cisco, Intel and Sun, and
major customers in 2002 include Cablevision, Salomon Smith Barney, Fiducia,
Motorola, i2 Technologies, Lucent, Nokia, EuroControl, Intershop, Applied
Biosystems, Wells Fargo, Reuters and Kinetech. Persistence Software is
headquartered in San Mateo, California. Please visit http://www.persistence.com
for more information.
ABOUT NEEDHAM CAPITAL PARTNERS
Needham Capital Partners ("NCP") is part of Needham Asset Management, a fund
management business with investment partnerships that invest in both public and
private equities. Needham Capital Partners is affiliated with Needham & Company,
Inc., a leading specialty U.S. investment bank focused on serving emerging
growth companies. Needham & Company's research and investment banking
professionals are in contact with potential portfolio companies and with the
customers, suppliers and business partners of potential portfolio companies.
Needham & Company's research and investment banking professionals provide an
investment origination resource for NCP. Needham & Company was founded in 1985.
It has worked as financial advisor and managed initial and follow-on public
offerings for many of the leading companies in the technology and healthcare
industries.
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Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters discussed in
this press release are forward-looking statements involving risks and
uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those
in such forward-looking statements. Potential risks and uncertainties include,
but are not limited to, Persistence Software's limited operating history;
potential fluctuations in our operating results; our potential need to raise
cash in the future; uncertainties related to our long sales cycle; our reliance
on a relatively small number of customers; our dependence on revenues from
EdgeXtend, which was only released in 2002; our dependence on the Java
programming language and the Enterprise JavaBeans standard becoming widely
accepted standards; our need to manage our resources or attract and retain the
services of key employees; our need to deliver products that are free of defects
and errors and meet rapidly changing technology standards and customer
requirements; our need to build a strong direct sales team and develop third
party sales channels; our dependence on enterprise-wide system deployments; and
our need to address competition from companies with substantially greater
resources. Further information regarding these and other risks and uncertainties
is included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31,
2001, the Quarterly Forms on 10Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2002, June 30,
2002 and September 30, 2002 and in our other filings with the Securities and
Exchange Commission.