With exports accounting for up to 70% of its 1995 sales, French personal computer-to-Unix house Esker SA has secured an undisclosed amount of venture capital funding from London, UK, and Menlo Park, California-based Thompson Clive Venture Capital to expand its US presence. It is currently up to 80 staff worldwide of whom 20 are in the US. It will add another 20 in the US this year. Esker claims pole position in the European Windows TCP/IP and Internet communications software market but has a bevy of competitors such as NetManage Inc, Cupertino, California with its Chameleon/X software (CI No 2,804). Lyon-based Esker will retain its headquarters and research and development operations in France, chief executive Benoit Borrit will relocate to the US headquarters in San Francisco. Meantime, the company says it will release its Tun Plus TCP/IP and emulation package for accessing networked Unix applications from personal computers in September and add other middleware and network management tools. The company is looking towards a flotation, perhaps as soon as next year.
