VisionOSS Announces Series B Capital Round to Fuel Unified Communications Service Delivery
Eden Ventures, XAnge Private Equity, Pyrford Enterprises invest as company readies for market uptake
BERKSHIRE, UK. September 22, 2008 – VOSS, a leader in Unified Communications (UC ) service delivery software, announced today that it has closed $12 million in Series B private equity funding. The company serves an impressive range of global enterprises and Tier I service providers, including BT and IBM, with its first-in-class service delivery platform for UC features.
Early-stage venture capital firm Eden Ventures and Paris-based XAnge Private Equity joined existing investors Pyrford Enterprises in VOSS’ Series B round. Pyrford also led
VOSS’ Series A round in 2006. The company will use the new funds to fuel its growth in the rapidly expanding market for enabling enterprise and service provider UC features (i.e. deploying integrated voice and video telephony, messaging, conferencing, presence and collaboration tools).
IDC estimates the size of the worldwide Unified Communications market will reach $17 billion by 2011.(*) New analysis of the Unified Communications market from Nemertes Research shows only 16% of companies are doing nothing with unified communications. More than one-third (36%) are in an initial planning phase; 28% have a limited deployment of specific applications that make up unified communications, or a full unified communications deployment to a limited number of people; and 19% have developed their unified communications strategies and are in the process of implementing them company-wide, according to the research firm’s Unified Communications & Collaboration research project.(**)
“VOSS is powerfully hitting its stride just as Unified Communications sees mainstream adoption by large enterprises and service providers,” stated Eden Ventures General Partner Mark Farmer. “Importantly, while users are keen to gain the benefits of UC, they really need instant-on, trouble-free and simplified service delivery and management to rapidly achieve critical mass. VOSS meets these needs, even over hybrid vendor UC networks, and thus will be a linchpin in the success of Unified Communications.”
“We look for innovation and a sustainable edge in a promising market when we bring startups into our high-performance portfolio,” described Cyril Bertrand of XAnge Private Equity. “VOSS impressed us and its blue-chip global customers with a rich suite of service delivery tools, essentially a new category of UC service delivery platform.”
“VOSS’ innovation,” he continued, “shows in the simplicity with which it presents management of the UC infrastructure, devices, services, users, analysis and reporting to users - all on one platform – thus shielding them from an incredible complexity of integrated provisioning and management. The company’s edge lies in the speed and efficiency with which the VOSS architecture performs. It is simply unlike anything else out there, and will establish a benchmark for the industry.”
“Our goals are to provide the world’s leading UC service delivery platform, and to make it virtually as easy, quick and efficient for customers to launch new UC services as it is to launch a video on YouTube,” stated VOSS CEO Mike Frayne. “We’ve seen our early adopter customers fully capitalize on the platform’s benefits, especially our support for hybrid, multi-vendor architectures, and we know we’re well positioned to lead in the broader market uptake of Unified Communications. We look forward to enabling hundreds of thousands of UC seats, at the speed the market demands.”
Eden Ventures’ Mark Farmer and XAnge’s Cyril Bertrand will join the VOSS board of directors.
(*) IDC, "Worldwide Unified Communications Ecosystem 2007-2011 Forecast: The Road Ahead for UC," Doc # 208043, August 2007
(**)Source: August 4, 2008 Column by Robin Gareiss, Executive Vice President and Senior Founding Partner of the Nemertes Research Group, Inc.,
http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/branch /2008/080408branch1.html
About Eden Ventures
Eden Ventures invests in technology companies in the telecommunications software, enterprise software, digital media, e-commerce, internet and mobile sectors in the UK and Ireland. Eden’s background is that of serial entrepreneurs with a spectacular seed investment track record. Eden offers its portfolio companies considerable operational management expertise in creating businesses of lasting value. For more information, visit www.edenventures.co.uk.
About XAnge Private Equity
Backed by leading European companies and financial institutions, XAnge is a private equity firm with €350 million in assets under management. XAnge was first launched in 2003 through the creation of XAnge Capital, a venture capital firm that focuses on connectivity businesses and is sponsored by La Poste Group. XAnge Private Equity, an investment firm created by La Banque Postale, ABN AMRO and management. XAnge has developed a broad range of competencies from venture capital to growth/transfer capital. As an active minority shareholder, XAnge supports a broad range of portfolio companies. For more information, visit http://www.xange.fr/en/index.html.
About Pyrford Enterprises
Pyrford Enterprises is an investment company focused on supplying both funding and intellectual capital to technology orientated companies that are seeking to expand or further develop their business. The investment focus is on supplying development capital to technology businesses that provide products or services to the telecommunications and financial services sectors. Ideally, investments will be in companies that have a revenue base of between $5m and $20m and have proven their capabilities at customers. The fund is managed by individuals with recent and up to date operational management expertise. For more information, visit http://www.pyrfordenterprises.com.