SOFTWARE: Am-Beo, a Galway-based software company, has raised €10 million funding in one of the largest venture capital deals struck by a firm outside Dublin this year.
The company, which completed a separate funding deal financed by Enterprise Ireland last month, received €7.5 million investment from a new UK-based investor, Advent Venture Partners. The firm's existing backer, Act Venture Capital, supplied the extra €2.5 million, in the financing deal which was organised by Dublin-based, Ion Equity.
The valuation was not released but it is believed Advent Venture Partners got between 25-30 per cent of equity in the firm.
Mr John Brady, chief executive of Am-Beo, said the software company would hire an additional 50 staff to bring its total workforce to about 100 by March 2003. The firm would also open two new sales offices in Europe and the US (probably Denver) he added.
Established in March 2000, Am-Beo develops software which enables mobile operators and Internet service providers to rate and charge the cost of transactions made on a telecoms network. Am-Beo's core product, Rate-rec, allows companies to bill customers by an unlimited range of parameters including minutes of usage, volume of data transferred and quality of service.
"Our software enables firms to charge for pretty much any transaction and is particularly good for revenue sharing models used in new technologies such as GPRS," said Mr Brady. "The problem most mobile firms have is billing for the new innovative services which will become available."
Despite the downturn in technology spending, this rating market will be worth an estimated $892 million (€983 million) by 2005, said Mr Brady. "Our product will enable customers extend the lifetime of their expensive billing systems to save them money," he added.
The firm licenses its software to companies and also offers smaller pay-as-you-go royalty contracts which enable hard-pressed buyers to be more flexible with deals, said Mr Brady. "We aim to get 10-12 licence fee contracts per year and several pay-as-you-go type deals," he said.
Mr Brady admits Am-Beo's sales cycle has been pushed out longer recently due to the downturn in high-tech spending, and this may have a knock on effect on the firm's profitability targets. But by raising €10 million in funding, Am-Beo will not have to come back to the market for two years.
"Our goal is an exit within three years by an initial public offer or a trade sale," he said. "Anyone from a large billing provider or a Microsoft, SAP or Cisco may be interested in our products."
The investment by Advent Ventures Partners is its first in an Irish company. The firm has £475 million sterling (€763 million) under management.
