Telepo secures 4.5 million Euro funding for expanded growth
"We have experienced a rapid increase in demand from customers and partners during the last 6 months, with a 15-30% month-by-month end user growth", said Lars-Michaël Paqvalén, CEO of Telepo. "With this new funding, we will be able to accelerate our growth globally and further strengthen our leadership in hosted Mobile Unified Communication."
Telepo has achieved some remarkable milestones since the last financing round in 2006, for example significant global agreements and more than 1 million sold licenses. It has also received many global industry awards and was in 2008 named as one of the leading technology companies in Sweden. Recently, Ed Kozel, one of the most prominent industry executives, former CTO and Board member of Cisco Systems, Board member of Yahoo! (Nasdaq:YHOO) and RedHat (NYSE:RHT), and current Board member Network Appliance (Nasdaq:NTAP), joined the Telepo Board.
"In the current economic downturn, enterprise customers are revisiting their communication expenditures and are even more focused on cost savings and cost control. Telepo's unique software solution for hosted Mobile Unified Communication, combined with a proven business model and a strong team will enable them to build a new category leading software business", said Kevin Comolli, Managing General Partner at Accel Partners.
Gartner, IDC and Frost & Sullivan estimate that hosted voice services will grow annually with an average of 32 percent and Mobile Unified Communication with 44 percent during 2008 - 2011. Gartner also estimates that the value of hosted communication services will exceed on-premise installations in 2012.
GSM Suomi (www.gsm-suomi.fi), a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) in Finland, was able to build and launch a service within weeks in April 2008 and has since then acquired more than 500 enterprise customers, with an average monthly growth of 30 percent.
Recently a white label concept UNO, with an attractive reseller business model, was launched in the Nordics based on the Telepo solution. More information is available at www.unotelefoni.se.
About Telepo
Telepo is the leading provider of enterprise mobility and converged business communication solutions to enterprises, application (ASP) and internet (ISP) service providers and mobile and fixed network operators worldwide. The rapidly expanding clientele and partner network includes many FORTUNE 500 companies and service providers. Telepo has received many major awards, such as the GSM Association's award at the Mobile World Congress for the Best Mobile Enterprise Software and the EU's highest technology award. More information is available at www.telepo.com.
About Accel Partners
Founded in 1983, Accel Partners has a long history of excellence and innovation in the venture capital business and is dedicated to partnering with outstanding entrepreneurs and management teams to build world-class technology businesses. Accel portfolio companies have completed IPOs that have created more than $150 billion in market capitalization and the firm has a history of backing category-defining companies which include Admob, Actuate, Agile Software, Alfresco, AMCC, Arrowpoint, ComScore, Facebook, Foundry Networks, GlamMedia, Infinera, JBoss, Kayak, Macromedia, metroPCS, Polycom/PictureTel, QlikTech, Real Networks, Redback Networks, Riverbed, UUNet, Veritas, Walmart.com, XenSource and Zimbra. For more information, visit the Accel Partners web site at www.accel.com.
About Kreos Capital
Kreos Capital is Europe's largest and leading venture debt provider. As the first dedicated venture debt provider in Europe in 1998, Kreos has adapted the experience of the US venture debt model to the European market. The team, entrepreneurs themselves, have the experience to understand what early-stage companies need and therefore provide debt-funding facilities that meet the real-world demands of growing businesses and venture capital investors. Kreos has so far committed more than €650 million to its portfolio companies through leases and secured loans. Unlike traditional lenders, Kreos provides entrepreneurial companies with debt financing and growth capital from inception to later stage - typically investing €150m - €200m annually across the portfolio with individual deals from €750,000 to more than €15 million. Focused on the value creation of its portfolio companies, Kreos takes a venture capital view on each financing situation, offering quick decisions, but without requiring Board seats, complex due diligence, share revaluation, substantial equity dilution, deposits or personal guarantees. Having completed close to 250 transactions in 12 countries across Europe and Israel, Kreos has a proven track record of helping portfolio companies grow throughout their business cycle whilst supporting the objectives of both the venture capital funds and Kreos' investors. For more information, visit the Kreos Capital's web site at www.kreoscapital.com.
Telepo contact:
Lars-Michaël Paqvalén, CEO and Founder
Tel: +46 (0)8 5065 2702
micke@telepo.com
Accel Partners contact:
Kevin Comolli, Managing General Partner
Tel: +44 (0)20 7170 1000
kcomolli@accel.com
Kreos Capital contact:
Mårten Vading, General Partner
Tel: +46 (8) 678 7200
marten@kreoscapital.com
