AEPONA, A supplier of telecommunications software and services, has closed a $10 million (€7.8 million) funding round which the company will use to increase its sales and marketing efforts in key markets.
The investment was led by BlackBerry Partners Fund. The Toronto-based fund specialises in applications, services and supporting infrastructure for mobile phone platforms.
Existing investors Amadeus Capital Partners, Polaris Ventures, Innovacom, Nordic Venture Partners and Sutter Hill Ventures are also participating in the funding round.
Michael Crossey, Aepona’s vice-president of marketing, said the involvement of the BlackBerry Partners Fund would help to improve the Belfast firm’s relationships with important players in the mobile market, such as Research in Motion, which makes the BlackBerry e-mail device and is a stakeholder in the fund.
The mobile software apps market has been booming, with Apple alone passing three billion downloads earlier this year. Google, Nokia and others have created similar market places.
Crossey said Aepona was looking specifically at mobile apps for the enterprise market rather than for consumers.
“This relationship with BlackBerry Partners Fund will help us in that regard.”
Aepona’s technology allows application developers to create services for broadband and mobile phone networks, Mr Crossey added.
The applications would then be able to use capabilities in those networks such as the ability to make a voice call, identify a person’s location, send a text message or make a payment.
“Most applications today just use the capabilities on the device itself, like calendaring. We are allowing those applications to be extended to use the network.”
Originally founded in 1995, Aepona owes its origins to Aldiscon, the Dublin company that pioneered text-messaging technology.
Last year Aepona acquired Valista, a provider of mobile payments and settlement systems. The company’s systems are used by more than 20 mobile phone operators worldwide.
“We’ve seen very strong growth since 2008. Our revenues grew by 50 per cent between 2008 and 2009 and we’re expecting to see another 50 per cent increase this year,” Mr Crossey said.
Aepona employs 180 people and he confirmed that the company would be hiring some “experienced salespeople who are used to selling complex technology”.
It has identified several key growth markets, including North America, Europe and the Middle East, and it is also planning a return to the Asian market before the year’s end.
“As mobile markets become saturated, operators are looking for new sources of revenue. We solve that problem for them. Apps and data is where the money is going to come from.”
