SevenMountains AS, a Norwegian start-up which has developed a Java software layer which enables mobile phones and PCs to access the same applications, has closed a $7m funding round involving top European venture capitalists. 3i Plc from the UK, Holland Venture, from the Netherlands and Alpinvest Holding have all put money into SevenMountains, which will use the cash to develop its sales operations in Europe and start building up the partnerships it needs to distribute the software.
Originally the R&D unit for Nordic Communications, Bergen-based SevenMountains was spun off in 1997 and took in seed capital totalling $3m in May last year from Telenor Venture, the investment arm of the Norwegian telco, as well as Venture Partners, another Norwegian investment firm.
SevenMountains is in talks with a list of the biggest IT firms including Sun Microsystems and IBM who are all keen to use its Java software to provide the link between desktops and mobile computing and applications. The Norwegian firm is platform-neutral, its users can access applications on all flavors of Unix, Windows or mainframes, and it is attracting a lot of attention from application service providers which only offer services on a Microsoft environment. Probable vertical sectors to target include finance, healthcare and public sector alongside the ASP drive.
With headquarters in Bergen and a sales office in Oslo, SevenMountains has representation in the US market with an office in San Mateo. It plans to open branches in the UK and Germany to beef up direct sales over the next year, although the major revenue push is expected to come from its partnerships. It is also negotiating with the big consultancy firms, says CEO Morten von Krogh, to provide systems integration. Seat prices for the software range from $10 to $50 and contract sizes will mainly be in the $500,000 to $1m bracket, according to von Krogh.
Another Scandinavian firm, PharmaSoft, has also attracted funding, with American, Swedish and Japanese venture capitalists pouring $4m into the Uppsala-based firm. The pharmaceutical software includes a database of drug information and a document management product. PharmaSoft will use the money to develop web interfaces for its product set.
