CANNES, France, 3GSM Conference - February 23, 2004 - Nokia Venture Partners, a global venture capital firm focused on early-stage mobile technology companies, today announced that six of its portfolio companies will feature their latest developments at the 3GSM World Congress in Cannes. At the show, Atrua, Bitfone, FusionOne, Landmat, ProQuent Systems and WiderThan.com will unveil their new products, services and features at the Nokia Venture Partners stand G12 in Hall 2.
"We will be showcasing some of the most promising mobile technology companies in Cannes. The 3GSM World Congress is the perfect venue to reveal products and services that will change and enhance our mobile world," said John Malloy, partner, Nokia Venture Partners. "We are very proud of these investments and the entrepreneurs pioneering change. It is our sincere hope that their efforts inspire innovation throughout the mobile industry."
Nokia Venture Partners was formed in 1998 and has funded more than 40 companies within the mobile infrastructure, components, software, applications and services sectors, from the US, the UK, Germany, Finland, Iceland, Israel, and South Korea. The companies participating in the 3GSM World Congress represent only a portion of the fund.
The Nokia Venture Partners portfolio companies participating in this year's 3GSM event will make the
following announcements:
Atrua Technologies, Inc. will premier its first of kind Intelligent Touch-Based System for mobile phones which provides innovations including one-step m-commerce and 4-dimensional gaming control. Atrua WingsTM is the world's first family of products to utilize haptic processing - the science of human touch - to convert finger movements into powerful user commands, secure passwords and intuitive, responsive controls. Atrua Wings applies underlying technology initially developed for fingerprint recognition in new ways, enabling one-touch commands that accelerate mobile transactions and 4-dimensional game pad functionality that enhances the mobile gaming experience and improves device navigation.
Bitfone's mProve(TM) is technology that updates a mobile phone's software over the air, in a secure and failproof manner. Last year at 3GSM, Bitfone demonstrated mProve on Nokia and Texas Instruments platforms, and since then Bitfone has secured commercial contracts with Motorola, Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Japan, and SK Telecom. mProve has been commercially deployed in South Korea with SKT, and in Japan within the NTT DoCoMo network. Bitfone has also developed partnerships with IBM and Symbian. This year, Bitfone will demonstrate mProve(TM) on three new mobile handsets, and announce new customer and partner relationships.
FusionOne, a provider of innovative synchronization solutions for mobile phone users, will introduce its newest operator-grade product, MightyBackup(TM). MightyBackup is an easy-to-use mobile application and service that provides backup and restoration functionality for BREW(TM) and Symbian(TM)/Series 60 handsets. MightyBackup features fast, phone-based setup, flexible scheduling options and secure data backup and restoration for mobile address books. FusionOne is also showcasing its powerful MightyPhone(TM) service, which enables mobile users to automatically update their phone with address book, calendar, and tasks from either their PC- or web-based PIM - wirelessly. FusionOne develops and delivers end-to-end solutions that deliver real data revenue and customer satisfaction.
Landmat is a global developer of mobile applications and services with active services in five continents. The company products include mBlog mobile blogging, Time Out city guides, Discovery mobile products, DateTrak matching & dating and other community and branded content applications for multi-platform delivery. The company currently employs over 40 people with offices in Reykjavik, Singapore, Washington D.C. and London.
ProQuent Systems, a provider of intelligent mobile data infrastructure, will announce the launch of ProQuent ACCESS (Authorized Content Control & Electronic Subject Screening) family of Products. The solution will enable mobile operators, for the first time, to police content sent or accessed over their network. In January 2004, UK mobile network operators Vodafone, Orange, T-Mobile, Virgin Mobile, O2 and 3 signed up to a Code of Practice that governs the way content is classified and made available to customers. The Code, endorsed by UK Communications Minister Stephen Timms, will come into force by the end of 2004. ProQuent ACCESS is the only commercially-available solution which enables operators to actively enforce mobile content and access control policies in real-time. In addition, ProQuent will be announcing Partnership activities with Openet, a leading provider of real-time charging and convergent mediation solutions and OpenWave, a provider of open software products and services for the communications industry, including wireless operators, broadband providers and device manufacturers worldwide.
WiderThan.com, a provider of mobile Internet solutions and services will unveil the next generation of COLORing(TM) platforms. Built on the industry leading COLORing(TM) (Ring Back Tone solution) platform which is being deployed worldwide, WiderThan's next generation COLORing(TM) platform extends its end-to-end mobile music delivery capabilities to encompass various mobile music applications and services, such as Ring Tones, MOD(Music-On-Demand) and Music Video. The current COLORing(TM) solution has been successfully launched in the SK Telecom network with over 6.5 million currently enjoying this service. The next generation COLORing(TM) platform will be available to existing COLORing(TM) solution customers as well as to other mobile operators who are seeking market proven solutions and services that can help them increase data ARPU.
To register for press credentials for the 3GSM World Congress, please go to: http://www.3gsmworldcongress.com/press. For more information about Nokia Venture Partners and its portfolio companies, visit stand G12 in Hall 2 during the 3GSM World Congress or visit the Nokia Venture Partners website at http://www.nokiaventurepartners.com/gsm2004.html
About Nokia Venture Partners
Nokia Venture Partners is a leading global venture capital firm based in Menlo Park, California. Backed by a number of value add limited partners, the fund leads investments in early stage mobile technology companies around the world. Launched in 1998, Nokia Venture Partners has a strong track record of leveraging its combined resources, experience and contacts to help build successful mobile businesses. The firm also has offices in Washington DC, London, Helsinki, Hertzelia, Seoul, Hong Kong and Tokyo. For more information, visit http://www.nokiaventurepartners.com.
Media Enquiries:
Nokia Venture Partners
Gina Bauman
Tel. +1 650 462 7255
E-mail: press@nokiaventurepartners.com
Nokia
Communications
Tel. +358 7180 34900
E-mail: press.office@nokia.com
www.nokiaventurepartners.com
www.nokia.com