ZEFER Corporation

ABOUT THIS COMPANY:

In the June 1998 Business Plan Competition at Harvard Business School, Anthony Tjan and five of his friends were awarded the top prize for their field-study project: ZEFER's earliest incarnation. This recognition validated the $2 million in star-tup financing that Mosaic Venture Partners had already granted ZEFER, Tjan's fledgling company. Additional validation came from William Seibel, one of the original members of Cambridge Technology Partners, who joined ZEFER in March 1999 as president and CEO.

Finding fuel

A $100 million investment from GTCR Golder Rauner LLC in May 1999 allowed ZEFER to successfully run on its fixed time/fixed price model (designed to reduce risk for clients) using ZEFER's ENABLE (ENvision, Architect, Build, Launch, Evolve) methodology. These steps help clients evaluate and implement their strategic online options. Today, executive vice president Tjan and the three-year old ZEFER focus on integrating business strategy, design and technology to help both dot-coms and traditional businesses - especially big companies trying to adapt to the web world - take advantage of the Internet. GTCR returned in November 2000 with an additional $20 million investment in ZEFER. At the same time, ZEFER announced that it had added more than 35 clients in 2000, including CIBC, H.J. Heinz Company and Microsoft. March 2001 brought another infusion of capital: $45 million led by NEC Corporation with participation again from GTCR.