Raomal Perera’s mobile payments software company Network365 has closed a €10m third round venture capital deal. The funding drive was led by London-based Advent Venture Partners and original investors Amadeus Capital Partners, Trinity Venture Capital, JAFCO and Enterprise Ireland. The deal was advised by Ion Equity.
The news follows recent news that Network365 was chosen by NTT DoCoMo to provide mobile payment and banking services to all its subscribers in Japan.
Company founder Perera said: “We will be using this investment to consolidate our leading position in the Asia-Pacific marketplace, as well as to strengthen our existing European and Latin American business operations while enabling us to invest in the emerging US market.”
James McNaught-Davis, a general partner of Advent Partners will join the board of Network365. McNaught-Davis is a senior figure in the software investment community, having managed investments across Europe for Warburg Pincus and having worked in the software industry with Misys. “We beliueve that Network365 is the leading provider of software to this market, combining a strong management team with the proven capability to deploy massively scalable, best of breed solutions to customers such as NTT DoCoMo, 3 and Hong Kong CSL.”
Since establishing in 1999, Network365 has seen its mzone technology deployed in more than 16 countries and has offices in Europe, Asia, Japan and the Americas. Last year the company won the award for Best Wireless Application Developer at the GSM Association Awards and in 2001 and 2002 was listed as one of Europe’s 50 Hottest Tech Firms in Time Magazine.
In related news, Belfast semiconductor designer Amphion raised US$5m in venture capital funding from ACT. The round of funding included investment from existing investors Apax Partners’ Funds and Enterprise Equity, and new investment from Invest Northern Ireland Enterprise Equity The company, whose chips are used in digital video systems, employs 38 staff in Belfast and at a sales office in California.
By John Kennedy
