The web services market is booming, and StrikeIron has an additional $2 million in capital as well as a new investor as it seeks to capitalize on growing demand.

StrikeIron, which operates the Web Services Business Network as well as a Marketplace, has closed on $2 million in Series B financing. Participating were Aurora Funds, which has backed the company from its formation, and new investor NC IDEA.

IDC reports that the web services market was work some $2.2 billion in 2004 and predicts that growth will be exponential.

StrikeIron has been one of the leaders in the emerging market since its formation in 2003, says co-founder and President Bob Brauer. And it intends to stay among the leaders thanks in part to the new funding, he added.

“We will continue to build and to capitalize on our web services marketplace, and we will be beefing up our sales and marketing efforts,” Brauer tells Local Tech Wire.

Richard Holcomb, Brauer and Robert Dale are the firm’s three founders.

The company now employs 15 people. As many as five additional people will be added, including at least two developers.

“Businesses are accelerating their use of web services,” he adds. “We’re doing great, and that is why we were able to attract a new investor.

“We have a great jump in this space. We knew from the beginning we needed to focus on more than just (program) developers. We wanted to provide a platform through which companies could utilize the web services as they become available. We now have close to 60 web services available from 15 different providers.”

Companies such as Dunn & Bradstreet, applications such as Excel, and four new market services (StrikeIron Market Indices, StrikeIron Mutual Funds, StrikeIron Securities and StrikeIron Exchanges) are just part of StrikeIron’s growing inventory of services and partners.

“StrikeIron’s strong management team and the StrikeIron Web Services Marketplace are uniquely positioned to capitalize on this market opportunity,” said David Rizzo, president and chief executive officer of NC IDEA.

StrikeIron: www.strikeiron.com