iOra, the UK software replication specialist, has won backing worth 2m pounds ($3.1m) from UK venture capital firm MTI. The money will allow the company to take the next European expansion step on the path to flotation and the US market.
iOra makes Windows and NT-based software aimed at mobile business users who need to download large amounts of information. The software, named SoftCD, sends most of that information, typically as a PowerPoint presentation, in the form of a CD to salesmen on the road. When the presentation is updated over the internet or corporate network, the software analyzes which data chunks have changed and which do not require re-sending, thereby saving download time.
Managing director Paddy Falls explains that the sums are simple. It takes 24 hours to download a whole 640 Mb CD with a normal modem running at 55kbps. It takes around 10 days to do the same for a DVD. The original PowerPoint presentation may fill a whole CD, but with the SoftCD software, the ‘amendment file’ may be 200Kb, which can be assimilated in seconds.
It’s going to allow us to sell across the UK, says Falls. Germany, Scandinavia and the UK are the main European markets at which iOra is aiming. The company focuses on the IT, automotive and construction industries, with telecoms, utilities and oil a secondary set of verticals. Falls anticipates that the company will have some form of operation in the US in about a year. It is discussing terms with 1-4-All, a San Diego-based firm that specializes in stage-managing the US debuts of European companies.
iOra intends to sell its ‘Epsilon technology’ products through partners. It is talking to companies both in the US and Europe to establish partnerships to develop technology jointly and then license it. Partnership is a quicker route to growth than organic development of sales teams, explains Falls, who predicts that the company’s 12 personnel will grow to 20 by the end of the year. The biggest risk, he says, is not moving quickly enough.
