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immediate release
ViVOtech Closes $22.5 Million In Series C
Round of Funding Investments Validate Growing Market For Contactless
and NFC Mobile Phone Payments
SANTA CLARA, Calif. – August 7, 2007 –
Silicon Valley-based ViVOtech has announced that they have closed
their Series C round of funding for a total of $22.5 million from
strategic investors in key sectors including the financial, retail,
and wireless markets, and existing investors. ViVOtech is the acknowledged
leader and has pioneered the commercial development of contactless
and mobile phone payment technologies including contactless read/write
terminals for wide variety of merchants, and Near Field Communication
(NFC)-related mobile phone payment wallet, promotions management,
and over the air (OTA) card provisioning infrastructure software,
that will allow millions of users around the world to make purchases
using their mobile phones.
Leading
ViVOtech’s Series C round was First Data Corporation who is
joined by new investors NCR (see related announcement today), Miven
Venture Partners and one undisclosed Fortune 500 company :
- First
Data Corporation is a leading provider of electronic commerce
and payment solutions for businesses worldwide. Serving over 5
million merchant locations, 1,900 card issuers and their customers
in United States, First Data powers the global economy by making
it easy, fast and secure for people and businesses around the
world to buy goods and services using virtually any form of payment.
-
NCR is a leading global technology company helping businesses
build stronger relationships with their customers. NCR’s
Teradata® data warehouses, ATMs, retail systems, self-service
solutions and IT services provide Relationship Technology™
that maximizes the value of customer interactions and helps organizations
create a stronger competitive position
-
Miven Venture Partners is a multi-stage venture capital firm founded
in 2005 by Victor Tsao and Jawad Ansari. Tsao is co-founder of
Linksys Inc., a division of San Jose-based Cisco Systems Inc.
Return investors in the Series C round included Alloy Ventures,
DFJ Gotham , Draper Fisher Jurveston, and Nokia Growth Partners.
"This funding underpins our strategic development plans and
will provide the capital required to execute successfully on our
ongoing product development, partnering and international expansion
strategies,” said Michael Mullagh, ViVOtech’s Chief
Executive Officer. “Over the last six months we have seen
strong interest from multiple players in the financial, retail,
and wireless industries, We are forming key strategic partnerships
with these new investors which we are confident will help ViVOtech
to maintain it market leadership and shape the future of contactless
and NFC mobile payment applications and technologies."
Near Field Communication (NFC):
NFC
is a 13.5 MHz radio frequency based technology that provides up
to 4 inches of wireless connectivity between two enabled devices.
NFC technology allows mobile devices to electronically interact
with point of sale payment systems, ATMs, kiosks, smart posters,
promotions, and self-service check-in systems. ABI Research recently
forecasted that NFC chips will be embedded in over 20% of all mobile
handsets that are expected to ship worldwide by 2012.
Series C Investors include:
Alloy
Ventures have been providing venture capital to companies since
1977. The company's primary areas of investment are in information
technology and life science industries. Alloy Ventures currently
has more than $750 million under management. For more information
about Alloy Ventures, please visit www.alloyventures.com.
Draper
Fisher Jurvetson has created a global network of affiliated venture
funds with over $4.5 billion in capital commitments and offices
in the major technology centers around the world. Headquartered
in Silicon Valley, the firm has proven expertise in identifying
and helping extraordinary entrepreneurs who want to change the world.
For more information about Draper Fisher Jurvetson, please visit
www.dfj.com.
First
Data Corp. (NYSE: FDC) is a leading provider of electronic commerce
and payment solutions for businesses worldwide. Serving over 5 million
merchant locations, 1,900 card issuers and their customers, First
Data powers the global economy by making it easy, fast and secure
for people and businesses around the world to buy goods and services
using virtually any form of payment. The company's portfolio of
services and solutions includes merchant transaction processing
services; credit, debit, private-label, gift, payroll and other
prepaid card offerings; fraud protection and authentication solutions;
electronic check acceptance services through TeleCheck; as well
as Internet commerce and mobile payment solutions. The company's
STAR Network offers PIN-secured debit acceptance at 2 million ATM
and retail locations. For more information, visit www.firstdata.com.
DFJ
Gotham Ventures , located in New York, is a Draper Fisher Jurvetson
affiliate fund with over $100 million in assets. DFJ Gotham is focused
on backing exceptional entrepreneurs in a variety of IT sectors.
DFJ Gotham shares the knowledge, resources and contacts of over
15 DFJ-network funds. For more information about DFJ Gotham, please
visit www.dfjgotham.com.
Miven
Venture Partners is a multi-stage venture capital firm with a primary
focus on investing consumer related technology companies. Founded
in 2005, the company has invested globally with its key strength
in Asia and North America.
NCR
Corporation (NYSE: NCR) is a leading global technology company helping
businesses build stronger relationships with their customers. NCR’s
Teradata® data warehouses, ATMs, retail systems, self-service
solutions and IT services provide Relationship Technology™
that maximizes the value of customer interactions and helps organizations
create a stronger competitive position. Based in Dayton, Ohio, NCR
(www.ncr.com) employs
approximately 29,500 people worldwide.
Nokia
Growth Partners is a diversified institutional investment management
firm headquartered in Menlo Park, CA. It is fully funded by Nokia
with US$200M under management. Nokia Growth Partners invests globally
directly into growth stage technology companies as a Venture Capital
Fund and participates as a limited partner in select venture capital
and private equity funds with its Fund of Funds program. Nokia Growth
Partners is funded by Nokia to provide superior returns and investments
into companies, firms and people that are changing the face of mobility,
communications and the internet.
About ViVOtech
ViVOtech (www.vivotech.com)
is the market leader in Near Field Communication (NFC) mobile payments,
promotions, and over the air (OTA) provisioning infrastructure software,
transaction management software, NFC smart posters, and Contactless
terminals These innovative solutions allow millions of consumers
to make Contactless payments with radio frequency-enabled credit/debit
cards, key fobs, and NFC mobile phones. ViVOtech's products are
used by some of the most prominent retailers in the United States.
Currently, with more than 280,000 units in 25 countries, ViVOtech's
products are in use at movie theaters, fast food restaurants (QSR),
casual dining establishments, convenience stores, gas stations,
drug stores, grocery stores, buses, taxicabs, kiosks and vending
machines, enabling a wide variety of businesses to accept Contactless/NFC
payments and promotions. In 2007, ViVOtech was named #1 in New ABI
Research* Contactless reader ranking. ViVOtech was also recognized
as Top Contactless Payment Technology Vendor in Aberdeen Group’s
“Retail Contactless Payment Report”. In 2006, ViVOtech
was honored with a MasterCard "Best Vendor Partner Award"
as the first vendor to deliver stand-alone Contactless readers for
MasterCard PayPass customers. In 2005, ViVOtech received the prestigious
Frost & Sullivan technology award for its role in transforming
the Contactless payment industry and the first annual ETA Technology
Innovation Award.
*ABI
Research is a N.Y.-based technology market research firm founded
in 1990. ABI publishes market research and technology intelligence
on the wireless, automotive, electronics, networking and energy
industries. Details can be found on the web at www.abiresearch.com
Kristin
Miller
SS|PR representing ViVOtech, Inc.
kmiller@sspr.com
(719) 634-8292
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