PolyDoc Plc, an Anglo-Dutch knowledge management company, has changed its name to Sopheon Plc, marking its creation from the merger of Amsterdam-based PolyDoc, and Guildford, UK-based AppliedNet. Sopheon derives from the ancient Greek words for knowledge and building, and offers a fresh brand under which the company can launch a first assault on the US market.
Sopheon intends to beef up its embryonic US operation to provide 60% of total revenue, and has so far opened an office in Denver, Colorado with further bases planned, probably, for San Francisco, California and Boston, Massachusetts next year. The firm’s business is currently centered in Western Europe, with most of AppliedNet’s revenue coming from the UK, and the bulk of PolyDoc’s from Holland and Germany.
The Amsterdam firm raised 7.5m pounds ($12.3m) in a new share issue and acquired some word and concept matching technology last month, through the 8m pound ($13.1m) acquisition of AppliedNet (CI No 3,778).
The US operation will focus mainly on the healthcare market, which uses its technology to make medical equipment requests on the basis of diagnoses. AppliedNet’s software lets users search databases for words or concepts; PolyDoc’s technology allows users to create a terminology database by extracting clinical and pharmaceutical terms from documents.
