July 24, 2002
Kennet Venture Partners Ltd announced today that it has participated in a follow-on funding round of £7.2m for Volantis Systems Ltd (Volantis), a leading provider of multi-channel software solutions that allow organisations to cost-effectively deploy web-applications across multiple devices. The funding was led by Accel Partners and, in addition to Kennet, included existing shareholders. Volantis has previously been funded by Kennet Venture Partners and Softbank. Kaj-Erik Relander will join the Board of Volantis Systems as a result of the Accel investment.
Volantis' flagship product, "Mariner," supports the deployment of multi-channel applications via one, central Web application, eliminating the need to tailor separate content for each device. The strategic value of Volantis' technology is evidenced by recently signed contracts with mobile leaders Hutchison 3G (recently re-branded as 3) and Telefónica Móviles.
David Carratt, managing director of Kennet Venture Partners said, "Volantis has made exceptional progress over the past two years since Kennet's first investment. The acceptance of its main product by industry leaders in the wireless operator market and the compelling logic of developing a multi-device solution continue to convince us of Volantis' value proposition. Clearly, as businesses 'extend the enterprise' to mobile devices, Volantis Systems' multi-device enabling solutions will be in great demand."
Responding to the needs of companies looking to reach customers over the growing number of connected devices and networks (mobile handsets, PDAs, iTV, etc), Volantis' Mariner software intelligently targets, personalises and optimises the presentation and behaviour of web applications according to the device being used to access it. The technology eliminates the need for organisations to continuously invest in their web strategies as new devices are introduced onto the market.
Terry Davies, CEO of Volantis, commented: "Like any fundamental shift in technology, multi-channel web infrastructures represent both an opportunity and a risk to business. An opportunity because it provides businesses, such as banks, enterprises and other service providers, with a means of extending customer reach and allowing customers to chose how they interact with a service, and a risk because of the potential costs required to support these new channels and devices. Volantis Mariner has removed this layer of complexity by offering a capability to support new devices as they are released, delivering tailored content from one central web application." said Kaj-Erik Relander, a general partner at Accel Partners, "Seamless delivery of content and applications in a wireless, multi-channel environment is becoming an increasingly important issue for wireless carriers and enterprises alike. Volantis' breadth and depth of technology, combined with a demonstrated delivery capability, leaves them uniquely placed to lead the market in this area."
Kennet Venture Partners is a leading European early-stage venture capital firm focused exclusively on the IT, communications and media industries. Kennet Venture Partners places a strong emphasis on investments in networking and communications technologies, semiconductor IP, Internet infrastructure and enterprise software. Kennet Venture Partners acts as manager of Kennet II LP, a Guernsey limited partnership and advisor to Kennet I LP, a Jersey limited partnership. Authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.
Volantis develops enterprise and carrier class infrastructure software for the Pervasive Internet. With Volantis, enterprises and telcos can increase their speed to market by rapidly delivering support for wireless and broadband devices, and future-proof their investment in interactive application development by dynamically adapting to new technologies in the market.