Mactive Gets $4 Mil.

By: Jim Rosenberg Owners of Mactive, Helsingborg, Sweden, and Melbourne, Fla., are investing a further $4 million in their company for purposes of sales and marketing, strengthening its product line and increasing customer support.

"This enables Mactive to pursue strategic goals, while at the same time staying focused on our current product offerings and customer satisfaction," Mactive Inc. CEO Scott Roessler said in a prepared statement.

Worldwide, customers range in circulation size from 5,000 to almost 900,000. The U.S. subsidiary now has 83 North American customers of all sizes, from a local New England daily to large Southern California regionals. The office Mactive established four years ago in Irvine, Calif., to serve the Orange County Register now supports numerous West Coast customers.

More than three-quarters of U.S. sites are in live production on AdBase. The company reported record 2003 sales of its AdBase system to 11 U.S. papers with circulations of no more than 75,000 copies. The year also saw 25 sites put their AdBase systems into production.

With systems installed at more than 150 sites in several countries, the Mactive companies are owned by Sweden's Fusio. Besides some local investors, the principle owners of Fusio are venture capital firm 3i and company founder and CEO Hans-Anders Fahlvik. Fusio has approximately 165 employees, and in addition to AdBase offers editorial, circulation and distribution systems.

In its home market, Mactive AB posted a profit in 2002, after three years of losses during which it also had a larger work force than in 2002, according to Kreditfakta figures. "Our financials for the year 2003 are currently being prepared," Fusio Chief Financial Officer Magnus Berglinde told E&P, adding that his company will no longer disclose its earnings.

When Mactive entered the U.S. market in 1997, it bumped up against Springville, Utah-based Digital Technology International (from which it earlier had licensed technology under the name Tele-Ekonomi, according to DTI). At about the same time, DTI found customers in Europe, where it established a headquarters in Germany and sales offices in Sweden and the United Kingdom.