May 8, 2008 (Waterloo, Ontario) – IGLOO Inc., a leader in online community solutions, today announced the closure of a $US 4 million equity financing round from RBC Venture Partners. The financing enables IGLOO to extend and commercialize its suite of collaborative community solution to corporations and other organizations in the rapidly accelerating enterprise social networking space.

Founded in 2003, IGLOO’s online community platform helps hundreds of organizations globally reduce email burden, remove distances across branch offices and inspire teams with new productivity and collaboration tools. The platform was initially developed to support an online international network of researchers, practitioners and educators working on global issues.

“Today’s round of financing enables IGLOO to extend our online community platform to corporations for improved social connections and productivity,” says Dan Latendre, CEO IGLOO. “Attracting RBC Venture Partners as a valued investor clearly shows that community software has matured into an important new competitive tool for corporations.”

Latendre, an industry veteran in content management software, says IGLOO’s suite was developed as a highly secure platform for academic institutions, top researchers and international development organizations to collaborate and share best practices. Now supporting more than 550 online global communities, IGLOO is ideal for companies looking to harness the power of web-based collaboration platforms.

“Corporations are embracing Internet based services such as blogs, wikis and other easy-to-use tools that emphasize online collaboration and sharing among users, while reducing the email burden that is choking effective communication,” says Kevin Talbot, Managing Director, RBC Venture Partners. “IGLOO’s suite is a strong offering that blends a fully integrated platform of online community networking tools with the security and administration controls required by corporate IT departments.”

IGLOO Inc., is based in the Waterloo region — Canada’s Technology Triangle — and became a for-profit entity in March 2008. As part of the RBC Venture Partners investment, Kevin Talbot has joined Jim Balsillie on the IGLOO board.

Links
-    Blog: Dan Latendre on the launch of IGLOO’s corporate social networking suite
-    Presentation: overview of the key features
-    Screenshots: download here

About RBC Venture Partners
Established in 1997 and headquartered in Toronto, RBC Venture Partners is the venture capital investment arm of RBC (RY on the TSX and NYSE) with over $300 million under management. RBC Venture Partners invests directly in early and growth stage software technology and services companies targeting the financial services vertical. For more information visit www.rbc.com/vp.

About IGLOO
IGOO Inc. is a turnkey solution provider which develops online communities for organizations of any size. Our solution suite combines Web 2.0 technology with on-demand hosting, consulting, e-engagement and all of the community support services necessary for a sustainable and successful deployment. Organizations use IGLOO communities internally to improve employee productivity (Workplace Communities) or externally to foster relationships with members, customers, partners and suppliers (Marketplace Communities). Fully integrated collaboration, knowledge sharing and Web 2.0 social networking tools enable organizations to quickly and cost-effectively create online communities to leverage talent, knowledge and relationships across organizational and geographical boundaries. IGLOO is funded by RBC Venture Partners. Jim Balsillie is Chair of the IGLOO board. For more information visit: www.igloosoftware.com.

Media Contact

For IGLOO:
Cerys Goodall
High Road Communications
416-644-2254
cgoodall@highroad.com


Key Words: Corporate Social Networking, IGLOO, collaborative software, Web 2.0, Waterloo, RBC, RIM, Jim Balsillie