Mobile e-mail vendor, Synchronica is acquiring consumer mobile email specialist AxisMobile for US$4.9 million in an all shares transaction. Synchronica also stated that it has raised additional funds of US$10million, from new and existing institutional investors, which brings the total funding secured in 2008 to US$18 million. The additional funds will be used to accelerate product integration and fuel the growth of the combined business in emerging markets such as China, Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Latin America.
AxisMobile’s consumer mobile email platform complements Synchronica’s Mobile Gateway software by adding 'email to SMS’ and 'email to MMS’ gateways as well as a client-less solution for WAP/xHTML browser access. AxisMobile’s patented Optimizer email transcoding gateway further adds the ability to display a large variety of attachments such as Word, Excel and Powerpoint presentations on standard feature phone handsets that would otherwise be unable to support such functionality.
The AxisMobile acquisition will also enlarge Synchronica’s footprint in emerging markets, by adding a strong sales force and key customer contracts in the relatively untapped areas of Eastern Europe, CIS and Russia, to Synchronica’s existing sales presence in the Middle East, Africa and Latin America.
Commenting on the acquisition, Synchronica CEO Carsten Brinkschulte said: “The fundraising and the acquisition of AxisMobile is a dramatic acceleration for Synchronica and I believe that it will build value for our shareholders. We aim to build a world leader in the market of consumer mobile email and synchronization solutions, and this acquisition is a key milestone that will improve our competitive positioning and accelerate our commercial growth. It will increase our ability to sell to customers, particularly to those in emerging economies, where we see the largest potential growth for mobile email and synchronization. With the fundraising and the acquisition of AxisMobile, Synchronica now has sufficient mass and funding to take advantage of the outstanding opportunity to exploit the commercial potential of mass-market mobile email. The next few years will be an exciting time for us all here at Synchronica and for our customers around the globe. We look forward with increased confidence from this inflection point.”
Posted to the site on 18th August 2008
