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EUROPEAN TECH WIRE - Nov. 1, 2004
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To Subscribe: http://www.europeantechwire.com
o Scotland Voted "Region of the Future" in European Poll
o U.K.-Based Catalyst Launches VC Accelerator Programme
o Germany's asknet Raises Total of 12 Million Euro of VC
o N. Ireland's Lagan Raises £2.8 Million for U.S. Expansion
o Intec Telecom Invests £1.5 Million in Denmark's Telmate
o French Linux Specialist Seanodes Raises 1.5 Million Euro
o Mobile Games to Generate $1 Billion in 2004, Report Says
o Briefly Noted: Marconi-COO Mike Donovan, European
Venture Partners, NDCHealth-Alliadis Europe, GPS Industries-
EMEA Office
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o Scotland Voted "Region of the Future" in European Poll
Edinburgh -- Scotland has been named Europe's "region of the future"
by an international panel that based its decision on criteria including
economic potential, cost effectiveness, skills, transport, IT
infrastructure and quality of life. The panel also adjudged Scotland to
have the best regional promotion strategy, and the Scottish city of
Dundee to have the best city promotion programme. "It is important
that we now capitalise on this," said Scottish Enterprise Minister Jim
Wallace. "What is encouraging is that this is about future prospects."
The judges of the survey, which compared more than 140 regions
across Europe, comprised a number of independent location consultants
and the senior editors of Foreign Direct Investment Magazine (FDI),
which is part of the Financial Times group. FDI is published on a bi-
monthly basis to a global audience of more than 45,000 corporate
investors.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?V2E353BA9
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o U.K.-Based Catalyst Launches VC Accelerator Programme
Bath, England -- Catalyst Venture Partners, a U.K.-based venture-
capital firm, announced recently that it is looking for start-ups to join
its Accelerator Programme, a six- to 12-month programme that
prepares technology start-ups for investment. Catalyst said that Matrix
Private Equity Partners, VCF Partners, South West Ventures Fund and
Octopus Asset Management would also participate in the programme.
The group plans to meet with companies' management teams,
contribute experience to the firms' development plans and generally
monitor the progress of the companies participating in the programme.
"We help them to identify the most appropriate marketing strategy,
recruit key individuals, obtain their first customers and prepare suitable
investor documentation," said Catalyst founder Richard Turner. Turner
said that firms graduating from the Accelerator Programme would have
fast-track access to investors and be able to get their products to market
faster.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?M2F552BA9
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o Germany's asknet Raises Total of 12 Million Euro of VC
Frankfurt -- asknet AG, a Germany-based firm specialising in
outsourced electronic software sales and distribution services (ESD),
announced that it has raised an amount of private equity funding.
Although the company declined to disclose details for the deal, it did
say that the latest round brought the total amount invested in the firm to
more than 12 million euro. asknet said it planned to use the latest funds
to expand its ESD services in North America and the Asia Pacific
region. Thomas Krüger, managing partner of AdAstra, one of the
venture capital funds participating in the round, said asknet had evolved
into a key player in the online software distribution and ESD industry.
"asknet has demonstrated its strength … by achieving high double-digit
growth in each of the last four quarters and by breaking even in Q4
2003," he said. asknet provides an e-commerce platform for selling,
buying, maintaining and managing most forms of digital and physical
media, including software, music, videos, games, PDA software and e-
books.
http://www.asknet.de/?control=PressEN&id=16
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o N. Ireland's Lagan Raises £2.8 Million for U.S. Expansion
Belfast -- Lagan Technologies, a Northern Irish software maker for the
public sector, announced recently that it has raised approximately £2.8
million in funding. Although Lagan declined to say who led the round,
it did say that the investor was a venture capital firm with a number of
U.S. connections and that a representative of the firm would join
Lagan's board of directors. Existing investors Crescent Capital, Invest
Northern Ireland and the Viridian Growth Fund also participated in the
round. Lagan said it planned to use the funds to finance its expansion in
the U.S. "The funding will support our push into the U.S.," said Lagan
CEO Des Speed. "Our team have been very active there since early this
year, and we expect to start to turn revenues in the U.S. before the end
of the financial year." Lagan raised about £3.8 million in its previous
round of funding.
http://www.lagan.com/
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o Intec Telecom Invests £1.5 Million in Denmark's Telmate
Copenhagen -- Intec Telecom Systems Plc, a U.K.-based Operations
Support Systems (OSS) product vendor for fixed, mobile and next-
generation networks, announced on Monday that it has invested £1.5
million in Telmate, an OSS specialist based in Denmark. Intec provides
software for the management and routing optimisation of wholesale
telecommunications traffic. Intec said it had already integrated Telmate
products within its own systems and that it had secured a £500,000
contract with an undisclosed European carrier as part of an ongoing
distribution agreement with the Danish firm. "We see optimisation of
telecoms traffic trading and routing as a growth area as carriers seek to
improve their operational models," said Intec Executive Chairman
Mike Frayne. "This additional capability will be attractive to both new
and existing Intec customers."
http://makeashorterlink.com/?N2E013BA9
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o French Linux Specialist Seanodes Raises 1.5 Million Euro
Paris -- Seanodes, a France-based software publisher specialising in
data storage services for Linux clusters, announced that it has raised
more than 1.5 million euro (£1 million) in first-round funding. The firm
said it would use the funds to establish its sales structure and boost its
technological developments. Seanodes also said it planned to add
another 10 engineers to its research and development (R&D) team
between now and the beginning of next year. Seanodes' first marketed
product, called Exanodes, allows Linux cluster users to decrease
storage costs while increasing performance. "Exanodes, our first
product, uses only part of our intellectual property, and the new jobs
will enable us to rapidly integrate new functionalities," said Seanodes
founder and R&D Manager Christophe Guittenit.
http://www.seanodes.com/newsfundraising.htm
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o Mobile Games to Generate $1 Billion in 2004, Report Says
London -- Mobile game downloads will generate more than $1 billion
worldwide this year, a figure that will grow to $6.4 billion by 2010,
according to a report from U.K.-based market research firm Screen
Digest. Japan and Korea are currently responsible for nearly 80% of the
market, where game download rates per handset are dramatically
higher and average revenues per user were four times higher last year
than in the U.S. and Western Europe. The report found that 49 different
game services were offered in Europe, compared to just nine in the
U.S., although U.S. mobile-phone users have on average more than
twice the number of games available to them (203 games) than
Europeans. "It's barely two years since the first games download
services were established in Europe, but now availability is almost
ubiquitous, and some operators offer more than 200 titles to their
subscribers," said Screen Digest analyst Tim Green.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?H16E156A9
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o Briefly Noted:
(London) U.K.-based Marconi Corp. Plc announced on Monday that
Chief Operating Officer Mike Donovan has resigned from the firm's
board of directors and that he plans to leave the telecommunications
equipment maker next month. "We … have recognised for some time
that once the operational restructuring was largely complete, and the
last of our non-core businesses had been disposed of, (Donovan's) role
would need to change," said Marconi John Devaney. "Unfortunately, it
has not been possible for us to find an appropriate role for him."
Donovan, who has worked for Marconi since 2001, ran the company's
divisions in North America.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?W1E226BA9
(Brussels) European Venture Partners, a venture-leasing specialist,
announced that it has closed its second fund of 105 million euro (£73
million). The firm said the fund would be dedicated to providing early-
stage debt and equity to venture-backed companies throughout Europe.
The new fund will use a reinvestment facility allowing it to make total
investments of more than 400 million euro (£278 million), EVP said.
Formed in 1998, EVP has offices in London, Sweden and Israel. The
company's first fund, EVP I, has invested more than 160 million euro
(£111 million) in 70 companies to date.
http://www.evp.co.uk/evp/index2.html
(Atlanta) NDCHealth, a provider of point-of-care systems, electronic
connectivity and information technologies for healthcare organisations,
announced recently that it has sold its business operations in the U.K.
to Alliadis Europe, a subsidiary of Cegedim. The sale includes NDC
Health Ltd., a U.K. pharmacy systems business, and NDCHealth's
interest in InfoPharm. Financial details for the deal were not disclosed.
"This transaction will enable us to focus on our significant U.S. market
opportunities as we continue to introduce new products and services to
our respective customer groups," said Walter Hoff, chairman and CEO
of NDCHealth.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?J3AE21AA9
(London) GPS Industries, a Canada-based provider of global
positioning system and wireless technology to the golf industry,
announced recently that it has opened an office in Eastbourne, England.
"We are in the process of appointing a network of distributors
throughout the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa), giving us
local presence in the key local markets of this crucial region," said
Bradley Allen, GPS Industries Vice President of Operations. The firm
offers a mix-and-match capability between handheld and cart-mounted
GPS units that can accommodate any combination of golf carts and
walkers.
http://www.gpsindustries.com/news.asp?newsID=99
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