The News

SOFINNOVA earmarks €85 million to accelerate activity in European wireless market

23/02/2004

23rd February 2004 – 3GSM World Congress, Cannes – 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.”

About Sofinnova Partners
Created in 1972 in Paris, where it is still headquartered, Sofinnova Partners is one of the leading independent venture capital firms in France and in Europe. With key operations in the information technology and life science sectors, its investment strategy is based on two principles: "Invest in projects with a high potential in their early stages of development" and "Act as lead or co-lead investor". Its investment team consists of 12 professionals who are all experts in their field and can assist companies in which Sofinnova chooses to invest. Sofinnova Partners has more than €500 million under management, a loyal base of international investors, and plans to strongly reinforce its European development in the coming years.  For more information, visit http://www.sofinnova.fr

About Sofinnova Ventures
San Francisco-based Sofinnova Ventures was founded in 1974. The firm emphasises a diversified investment strategy through financing seed and early-stage companies in the information technology and life science sectors. The firm's mission is to create value by providing entrepreneurs with the collective resources, experience and network necessary to build early-stage companies into profitable businesses.  Historically, Sofinnova has been associated with leading companies such as: Biogen, Collagen, Genentech, Printronix, Tandon and Tandem Computers. More recently, Sofinnova invested in Actelion, Aviron, Element 14, InterMune, Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Phone.com, Premisys, and Tumbleweed Communications. Sofinnova Ventures currently has four managing directors and three venture partners, with over $575 million under management. For more information, visit www.sofinnova.com

For further information, please contact:
Richard White
AxiCom (for Sofinnova)
Tel: +44 7713 404 570
richard.white@axicom.com