London – Kennet Venture Partners Ltd (“Kennet”), a leading international venture capital firm focused on the technology sector, has led a €12.0m financing round for Chipidea, an analog and mixed-signal semiconductor solutions provider. Vision Capital also invested in this financing round, as did existing investors, BCP Capital and BPI/Fundo Caravela.
Chipidea has developed one of the largest analog and mixed-signal technology portfolios in the world, ranging from precision single-function blocks to full analog sub-systems for communications, multimedia and power management applications. Founded in 1997, Chipidea now employs over 180 people based in Europe, Asia and North America. The company’s headquarters is Lisbon, Portugal.
Chipidea is profitable and achieved revenues of $18m in 2004, almost double that of the previous year. The company’s key products target fast-growing market segments such as wireless communications, digital media and consumer electronics.
Historically Chipidea has been funded with a combination of reinvested profits and a modest amount of external capital, provided by two industrial investors and two financial investors, both leading Portuguese institutions – BCP Capital and BPI/Fundo Caravela. Chipidea will use the proceeds of this financing to further expand its IP business and to launch a number of its own semiconductor products.
Michael Elias, Managing Director of Kennet, commented: “Jose Franca and his colleagues have built a world class semiconductor IP business using very little external capital. Kennet specializes in the providing expansion financing to capital-efficient business with global opportunities. We are therefore delighted at the opportunity to invest in Chipidea and help take it to it next level of development.”
Jose Franca, co-founder and CEO of Chipidea, commented: “We are delighted to welcome Kennet and Vision as new financial partners to Chipidea, as well as the further investment from our existing investors BCP Capital and BPI/Fundo Caravela. This investment will enable us to consolidate our leadership position in the analog and mixed signal market.”
Kennet Venture Partners is a leading transatlantic venture capital firm which invests in growth companies providing information technology products and business services that leverage information technology. Kennet provides expansion capital to firms that want to accelerate growth and build exceptional shareholder value in partnership with an experienced investor. Kennet Venture Partners acts as an advisor to Kennet I LP, a Jersey limited partnership and to Kennet II LP, a Guernsey limited partnership. Kennet Venture Partners is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.
For more information: www.kennet.com
Chipidea is the world’s number one analog/mixed-signal merchant technology supplier targeting fast-growing market segments like wireless communications, digital media and consumer electronics. Chipidea supports blue-chip customers across the globe, has an impeccable reputation for delivering high-quality products and is known for its reliable execution. Chipidea licenses its technology to leading companies in these and other key markets, delivering everything from precision single-function blocks to full analog sub-systems. Chipidea employs 180 people in its research and development, and sales and marketing offices across Europe, Asia and North America.
For more information: www.chipidea.com
Copenhagen, Denmark and Foster City, California - February 2005 - Venture capital firm Kennet Venture Partners (“Kennet”) has agreed to invest €5.1 million in Denmark-based Kapow Technologies A/S, provider of RoboSuite, a horizontal Web Integration software platform. Web Integration enables business users and non-technical programmers to rapidly integrate or extend applications and content. For corporations embarking on application integration, Intranet or portal projects, this means faster project ROI and considerable time-to-market advantages.
RoboSuite is already highly successful in the international market, with more than 70 customers worldwide. Kapow Technologies will use the capital to expand its international presence, and to further develop its suite of Web Integration solutions. The main focus of expansion will be the continuing build-up of Kapow Technologies’ US operations.
BEA Systems (Nasdaq: BEAS), a world leader in application infrastructure software, is a key technology and distribution partner for Kapow Technologies. RoboSuite WebLogic Edition complements BEA’s portal platform by enabling fast and easy integration of Web applications and content into the enterprise portal.
“We have been impressed with the capability of Kapow’s technology, and the degree of customer traction the company has achieved to date. For Kennet this is an opportunity to participate in a software industry paradigm shift — development of a new breed of integration solutions that can tie together applications and content with minimal IT skills required,” said David Carratt, managing director of Kennet in London. He added: “RoboSuite empowers businesses to integrate functionality from disparate sources for quick response to market demands, and at the same time it offers core IT staff the ability to deliver more services without resorting to heavy back-end application integration projects.”
“Having witnessed the business benefits of Kapow’s software within large US and European enterprises we are convinced that we can assist Kapow in accelerating the delivery of Web Integration solutions into the mainstream market. We look forward to working with the team from Kapow Technologies to build a successful US operation in the coming years,” said Javier Rojas, managing director of Kennet in Silicon Valley.
Stefan Andreasen, the CEO and founder of Kapow Technologies, states: “The investment from Kennet comes at a time when Kapow’s rate of new customer acquisition and revenues are growing rapidly. We are excited by the opportunity to work with Kennet to further accelerate this growth and to maintain our leadership in the area of Web Integration software.”
Kennet Venture Partners is a leading transatlantic venture capital firm, which invests in growth companies providing information technology products and business services that leverage information technology. Kennet offers expansion capital to firms that want to accelerate growth and build exceptional shareholder value in partnership with an experienced investor. Kennet Venture Partners acts as an advisor to Kennet I LP, a Jersey limited partnership, and to Kennet II LP, a Guernsey limited partnership. Kennet Venture Partners is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.
For more information: www.kennet.com
Kapow Technologies is the leading provider of Web Integration solutions. Kapow markets RoboSuite, an integration platform that enables fast and powerful integration of web-based content and applications into portals, content management systems and knowledge management systems. RoboSuite can access web resources and automate web interactions to extract and re-use online content, data or business functionality, regardless of origin or underlying technology. The platform includes an intuitive visual design environment, as well as comprehensive Web Integration lifecycle tools, that simplify integration and speed project delivery so that users can achieve faster and better results than with traditional integration approaches.
Kapow Technologies has more than 70 public and private customers worldwide. With a solid track record of documented savings of several man-years in portal projects and with an ROI in the range of 500 to 1000% in Web Integration projects, RoboSuite is becoming a key infrastructure component when developing, testing and deploying new Web solutions. Kapow partners with BEA, IBM, WRQ, CoreMedia, Inxight Software, Mobile Aware, Autonomy, Fatwire, Unilog, Synkron, Valtech, Softlogic, SoftPro, Domino Systems, Uptime and Avinci. Customers include Intel Corp, USACE, US Government, Deutsche Post, Lycos Europe, Barclays Bank, Total, DZ Bank, Swedish Defense and Danish Broadcasting.
For more information on the company: www.kapowtech.com
Kennet Venture Partners LLC ("Kennet"), a leading international venture capital firm focused on the technology sector, and JMI Equity, Inc, ("JMI"), a leading private equity firm based in the US focused on investing in companies in the enterprise software and information service markets, have acquired a majority stake in NetPro Computing, Inc., ("NetPro" or "the Company") a leading global provider of distributed services management software. Kennet and JMI have bought the majority of shares outstanding in NetPro in a secondary share purchase from existing investors for an undisclosed amount. The share purchase does yield a change of control of the company, as well as a new Board of Directors.
NetPro, founded in 1991 and based in Phoenix, Arizona in the US, will leverage the segment expertise and global reach of its new investor base and board of directors to continue driving sales growth and business development initiatives.
NetPro has approximately 3,500 customers which range from Fortune One to Fortune 1000 companies and include federal, state and local governments, universities and businesses in over 54 countries. The Company's customers include: Hewlett-Packard, KPMG, Cadbury Schweppes PLC, Paramount Pictures, Bank of England, Citigroup Inc, Mellon Financial Corporation, House of Commons, Swedish Parliament, JPMorganChase, EAD Airbus GmbH, United Nations and Swiss Re.
"This investment heralds NetPro's past financial results and future growth potential and introduces critical industry expertise", said Kevin Hickey, president & CEO of NetPro.
"In the first six months of this year, we have already well exceeded our 2003 annual revenue. This validates NetPro's positive growth trajectory and adds outstanding, industry-specific leadership to our board. The additional expertise brought in by our investors and the product development schedule will continue to bolster our market offerings".
NetPro has appointed Peter C. Arrowsmith, General Partner at JMI Equity Fund, Javier Rojas, Managing Director of Kennet Venture Partners, and Steve Whiteman, president & CEO of Intesource, to its board of directors.
"Arrowsmith, Rojas and Whiteman are highly regarded in the venture capital community, and are valuable additions to our board of directors", said Hickey. Hickey, who will maintain his board status, worked with Whiteman for nearly a decade during his tenure at publicly held software firm, Viasoft.
This is a typical investment for both Kennet and JMI as both funds invest in high-growth companies providing information technology products and business services that leverage information technology. Kennet and JMI provide expansion capital to firms who want to accelerate growth and build shareholder value in partnership with an experienced investor and will provide seasoned input as NetPro continues to ramp its business development and sales acceleration plans globally.
"NetPro has tremendous potential", said Peter Arrowsmith, General Partner at JMI Equity Fund, Inc. The company's quarter-over-quarter revenue growth, coupled with its exceptional product vision and go-to-market strategy, positions it for accelerated growth over the next 18 months. We look forward to working with the NetPro management team to drive the company to the next level of growth and market expansion.
Javier Rojas, Managing Director of Kennet Venture Partners said: "NetPro has delivered the best-of-breed network services diagnostics solutions for years however with its new product roadmap and senior management team the Company is executing at another level. Their products are delivering tremendous return on investment for customers and they have an impressive sales pipeline that clearly demonstrates that the message is resonating with new and existing customers. We're eager to lend our expertise on the board and play a key role in the new NetPro".
"We are very excited not only with the transaction but to continue with a significant investment in NetPro", said board member and investor, John C. Bentley, a partner with Grayhawk Venture Partners that were investors in the Series A funding in 1998.
Kennet Venture Partners is a leading transatlantic venture capital firm that invests in growth companies providing IT products and business services that leverage IT. Kennet provides expansion capital to firms that want to accelerate growth and build exceptional shareholder value in partnership with an experienced investor. The firm has approximately $300m in capital under management. Kennet Venture Partners acts as an advisor to Kennet I LP, a Jersey limited partnership and to Kennet II LP, a Guernsey limited partnership. Kennet Venture Partners is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.
For more information: www.kennet.com
JMI Equity Fund is a leading private equity firm focused on investing in high-growth companies in the enterprise software and information service markets. JMI invests in companies at all stages of development from start-up and expansion situations to management buyouts and recapitalizations. The firm has invested in over 50 companies and has approximately $400 million in capital under management. A number of portfolio companies have completed successful initial public offerings including BindView Development, eBenX, META Group, Mission Critical Software, NEON Systems, Peregrine Systems and Transaction Systems Architects. JMI has offices in Baltimore, Maryland and San Diego, California.
For more information, visit www.jmi-inc.com
NetPro delivers business-critical solutions to drive the availability, performance, security, and control of distributed network services. NetPro builds decades of experience into every enterprise solution to help customers minimize network downtime, leverage resources, drive down costs, and maximize ROI for such vital services as Active Directory, eDirectory, DNS, and MIIS. NetPro's partners include Microsoft Corp., Novell, Inc., and Hewlett-Packard, and its customer list features such respected organizations as Bank One, the U.S Army and General Motors.
For more information about MissionControl, please visit: http://www.netpro.com/products/missioncontrol/index.cfm
For more information about NetPro and its full range of products and solutions, please visit www.netpro.com or call 602.346.3600.
Fluency Voice Technology Ltd ("Fluency"), the UK-based provider of speech recognition applications has acquired SRC Telecom ("SRC"), the hosted speech application services provider from Voice Recognition Holdings.
In March 2004, Fluency received £6m funding; £3.5m from Kennet and £2.5m from Favonius Ventures, to fuel sales and expand product development in the area of packaged applications for vertical markets. Fluency is now expanding in the US and the funding will further support the development of partnerships and drive growth.
Fluency is a fast-growing business that has rapidly become the UK market leader in speech recognition applications for use in call centres. Speech recognition allows callers to perform simple tasks like ordering a brochure or finding out a bank account balance by speaking naturally via the telephone. Fluency's customers include: Powergen, National Express, Energis, Royal Mail, Barclaycard, Woolwich and JD Williams.
The acquisition of SRC will allow Fluency to offer hosted service provision in addition to in-network and premises-based solutions. It will therefore expand Fluency's market potential as well as encouraging the take-up of speech self-service more broadly.
SRC Telecom is well respected as a leading provider of hosted speech services, with a customer base including the BBC's Freeview and Lloyds TSB. SRC Telecom was a division of Voice Recognition Holdings (VRH), which will continue to own and operate its market leading digital dictation and desktop speech recognition business under the name SRC Dictation Solutions.
David Carratt, Managing Director of Kennet, said: "Fluency's speech applications are already used by many large enterprises in the UK and elsewhere and this acquisition further enhances the Company's offering. Kennet saw the opportunity to be the first institutional investors in a post-spinout company in a fast growing market place."
Alex Green, Fluency's CEO, commented: "The acquisition of SRC Telecom further strengthens Fluency's UK leadership in speech recognition solutions. It allows us to offer hosted speech recognition solutions, via an existing proven facility, to those customers who prefer this means of delivery. The SRC Telecoms business has excellent people, who will add to Fluency's unique skill base in the design and building of speech applications."
Chris Hart, CEO of Voice Recognition Holdings said: "This transaction gives SRC Telecom customers access to an even wider range of high quality telephony speech solutions, as well as being good for VRH's shareholders. The sale of the Telecom business will allow VRH to focus greater resources on further developing our fast growing dictation solutions business."
Kennet Venture Partners is a leading transatlantic venture capital firm which invests in growth companies providing information technology products and business services that leverage information technology. Kennet provides expansion capital to firms who want to accelerate growth and build exceptional shareholder value in partnership with an experienced investor. Kennet Venture Partners acts as an advisor to Kennet I LP, a Jersey limited partnership and to Kennet II LP, a Guernsey limited partnership. Kennet Venture Partners is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.
For more information: www.kennet.com
Fluency Voice Technology is a global provider of speech recognition applications. The company's solutions enable large enterprises to significantly reduce costs and enhance customer service.
Fluency provides sector specific applications that allow the automation of high volume contact centre activities. Key sectors for which Fluency has deployed applications include Retail Banking, Travel & Transport, Utilities, Retail & Distribution and Telecoms. Fluency has offices in the UK, US and India.
Fluency is privately owned and backed by two major European technology venture capital firms, Kennet Venture Partners Ltd and Favonius Ventures.
For more information, please visit www.fluencyvoice.co
Kennet Venture Partners ("Kennet"), an international venture capital firm, today disclosed that its funds sold their stake in Ubizen, the Belgium based provider of Managed Security Solutions for global businesses, to Betrusted, a global provider of security and trust services. Kennet's investment in Ubizen was held within Ubidco, a vehicle established to acquire a stake in Ubizen.
Ubizen had been the target of separate competing take-over bids from Ubidco and Betrusted earlier this year. In late January 2004, Ubidco purchased 34.7% of Ubizen in a public tender at €0.95 per Ubizen share. In early May 2004 Betrusted acquired Ubidco at €2.10 per Ubizen share, creating a significant gain for Kennet, even after transaction and other deal-related expenses. Prior to this transaction, Betrusted held 44% of Ubizen.
Michael Elias, Managing Director of Kennet Venture Partners, said: "When the Ubidco consortium initiated its tender for Ubizen we saw an opportunity to invest in a company with great potential in a rapidly growing market. However, following Betrusted's purchase of 44% of Ubizen, we concluded that the company would benefit from a shareholder base that had a unified view of long-term strategy.
Kennet invests in companies for three to seven years to help build long-term shareholder value. It is extremely rare for us to exit an investment in a matter of months, but this was an unusual situation, and one which generated a very successful return on our investment."
Kennet Venture Partners is a leading transatlantic venture capital firm which invests in growth companies providing IT products and business services that leverage IT. Kennet provides expansion capital to firms which want to accelerate growth and build exceptional shareholder value in partnership with an experienced investor. Kennet Venture Partners acts as an advisor to Kennet I LP, a Jersey limited partnership and to Kennet II LP, a Guernsey limited partnership. Kennet Venture Partners is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.
For more information: www.kennet.com
Ubizen is the principal provider of Managed Security Solutions for global businesses. Companies rely on Ubizen OnlineGuardian(R) services to manage, monitor and support security devices 24x7x365. Ubizen's Professional Services complement Ubizen OnlineGuardian services, by helping enterprises plan and implement security policies and infrastructures. Ubizen also protects Web servers against application-level attacks with Ubizen DMZ/Shield(TM) Enterprise.
For more information visit www.ubizen.com
Two European technology venture capital firms, Favonius Ventures ("Favonius") and Kennet Venture Partners Ltd ("Kennet") have joined forces to invest £6m ($11m) in Fluency Voice Technology Ltd ("Fluency"), the UK-based provider of speech recognition applications. Kennet will invest a total of £3.5m whilst Favonius will invest a further £2.5m.
Fluency is a fast-growing business that has rapidly become the UK market leader in speech recognition applications for use in call centres. Such applications allow callers to carry out common tasks such as finding out a bank account balance or booking travel tickets using natural language over the telephone. As a result, the enterprise can substantially reduce costs while maintaining excellent customer service.
Fluency will use the new funding to fuel sales and expand product development in the area of packaged applications for vertical markets. The company is now expanding in the US and the funding will support the development of partnerships to drive the growth there.
Fluency's management team is led by Alex Green, CEO, who joined in 2002 and was previously CEO of Broadsystem, a subsidiary of News Corporation providing outsource voice and call centre services. Paul Barnes, Fluency's founder, is now Sales Director while David Abensour, who was also instrumental in creating the original team, is CTO. Richard Watrasiewicz is Operations Director, having joined when Fluency acquired Vocalis in August 2003.
netdecisions created Fluency in 2001 as a spin-out of its Cambridge-based Research and Development team. netdecisions has incubated the business since its inception through the provision of funding, professional service support and strategic direction. netdecisions is renowned for innovation which extends beyond services to clients, to direct investment in building businesses such as Fluency.
Fluency's flagship software is VoiceRunner™, an application configuration environment allowing non-technical as well as technical users to create and modify speech applications. The company is focused on creating packaged applications in the financial services, travel, utilities, retail and telecoms sectors.
Fluency's customers include Barclaycard, National Express, Royal Mail, Powergen, Energis, JD Williams, Chelsea Building Society, Wells Fargo and Fujitsu.
MarketClusters, a strategic positioning consultancy, has assisted in supporting Fluency's business development and venture capital strategy.
Stephen Duckett, Managing Director of Favonius, said: "Favonius is looking forward to working with Fluency over the coming years to build a clear global market leader in advanced speech solutions for large enterprises. Fluency's solutions deliver a very rapid ROI to their customers in comparison to existing solutions today and this ability to create value for customers looks set to provide a strong foundation for continued rapid growth"
David Carratt, Managing Director of Kennet, said: "There is an excellent investment opportunity in being the first institutional investors in a post-spinout company. Fluency's speech applications are already used by many large enterprises in the UK and elsewhere and our experience of this sector means we know that it is an exciting and fast growing marketplace in which to invest."
Alex Green, CEO of Fluency, added: "Fluency has grown rapidly into the UK market leader and a global player in speech applications. We will use the new capital to expand our sales and marketing activities, particularly on major partnerships in the US, where we are gaining excellent momentum. We will also be developing our packaged applications offering, where we have a unique opportunity to lead the creation of a new market. Fluency will undoubtedly gain from the support and experience of the investors."
Kennet Venture Partners (www.kennet.com) is a leading transatlantic venture capital firm which invests in growth companies providing information technology products and business services that leverage information technology. Kennet provides expansion capital to firms who want to accelerate growth and build exceptional shareholder value in partnership with an experienced investor. Kennet Venture Partners acts as an advisor to Kennet I LP, a Jersey limited partnership and to Kennet II LP, a Guernsey limited partnership. Kennet Venture Partners is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.
Favonius Ventures is a European venture capital group focused on providing capital and operational support to growth businesses in enterprise and communications software markets. With four partners based in London and Amsterdam Favonius has now partnered with six rapidly growing companies since the raising of its first fund in 2001 and expects to add further 'partners' in the coming year.
Fluency Voice Technology is a leading global provider of packaged speech recognition applications for use in call centres. Our solutions enable large enterprises to significantly reduce costs and enhance customer service. We provide sector specific applications that allow the automation of high volume contact centre activities. Key sectors for which we have developed applications are Financial Services, Travel & Transport, Utilities, Retail and Telecommunications. For further information please visit www.fluencyvoice.com
netdecisions is an integrated group of companies that provides organisations with leading business-focused technology solutions. Working across the public and private sectors, we design, build and operate practical technology solutions that bring real and lasting benefits to our clients.
From designing and configuring IT architectures for global companies (ND Solutions), or building community focused IT service platforms for local councils (Agilisys), through to operating state-of-the-art call centres in the UK & Ireland for the financial services sector (Contact Partners) we pride ourselves on the breadth and depth of the skills and capabilities we can offer our clients.