Sofinnova to Invest €85MSofinnova to Invest €85M

Sofinnova Partners and Sofinnova Ventures plans to accelerate its investment in disruptive technology wireless startups

February 23, 2004

2 Min Read

CANNES, France -- Sofinnova Partners and Sofinnova Ventures, two leading independent venture capital firms with a combined €1 billion under management, today announced the achievement of an€85 million investment mark in early stage wireless start-ups, and confirmed that they are prepared to invest as actively in the coming years. The firms’ allocation of funds to the wireless industry marks a significant endorsement of European innovation and technology leadership and indicates an upturn in venture capital activity in early stage investments.

For the past decade, Sofinnova Partners and Sofinnova Ventures have followed a forward-thinking investment approach, consistently making seed investments in innovative wireless companies through both strong and weak market conditions. The firms entered the wireless sector by investing in companies developing infrastructure enabling carriers to provide wireless services, namely VoluBill, CTS and BeamReach Networks. The firms next moved into the mobile device and handset market via investments in HelloSoft and Varioptic. Identifying the need for solutions and technologies for mass-market mobile devices, Sofinnova Partners then invested in Esmertec and Infra Worlds. The companies in the firms’ portfolios span the full value chain from applications enabling mobile devices up to infrastructure products enabling mobile carriers to create differentiated services.

Sofinnova Partners and Sofinnova Ventures have had multiple successes in the past in this market, the most remarkable of which being Sofinnova Ventures as one of the initial investors in Phone.com (now Openwave), the first company to provide a WAP server capable of extending content to mobile phones. Phone.com’s high-profile IPO in 1999 was among the earliest offerings in the space, and generated an investment return of 284x.

“The tendency among VCs when the market becomes tough is to follow the existing money - it’s easier to follow established winners than to take the risk of actually trying to create new winners,” said Jean Schmitt, the partner leading Sofinnova Partners’ wireless strategy. “We have devoted €85 million to establishing the next great technology, and this investment tradition will continue. This should serve as a call to action for talented entrepreneurs trapped in stagnant organisations to jump ship and move forward with creating new businesses.”

“Successful innovation in the wireless industry is about building businesses that can be truly global,” said Eric Buatois, managing director of Sofinnova Ventures. “Our US/Europe investment coverage model provides a unique competitive advantage in the sector by recognising strong innovation in Europe for cellular infrastructure, handsets and smart phones, and strong innovation in the US for wireless LAN, notebooks and PDAs, and semiconductors. The complementary technologies in our wireless war chest will better enable us to create the next generation of European technology successes.”

Sofinnova Partners

Sofinnova Ventures Inc.

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