New investment round led by Dutch venture capital fund Prime Technology Ventures joining current Finnish investors Eqvitec Partners and Holtron Ventures

Espoo 1.6.2005  The Finnish smartphone navigation software developer Navicore Ltd has raised its second round of financing from an international consortium of investors. The consortium consists of Prime Technology Ventures and the current investors of the first round, Eqvitec Partners and Holtron Ventures. The purpose of the second financing round is to further speed up Navicore’s international expansion.

“Navicore has in a very rapid pace become the market leader in Finland and is among top three in Europe measured by sales volumes of navigation solutions for mobile phones. This financing round gives us the strength to aim for a clear leadership position also on a European scale,” said Panu Vuorela, CEO of Navicore.

Navicore’s flagship product, Navicore Personal, was launched in Finland in fall 2004 following Navicore’s first funding round in Spring 2004. Sales channels were extended to cover the rest of Scandinavia during winter 2005 and the sales network has been expanded to cover the whole Western and Southern Europe during spring 2005. The product has received excellent reviews and response from the consumers in all the markets and its sales have exceeded expectations. Navicore Personal is a software product delivered on a pre-installed memory card. With the accompanying GPS receiver, it transforms a standard smartphone into a full-featured personal navigator that the user always has available – just like the phone.

Navicore Personal is the first navigation solution that has been designed from the ground up for mobile phones. The result is a product that not only features top-notch performance and accuracy, but is also as easy to use as typing a text message. With such convenience, navigation now reaches the large consumer masses that previously considered navigation either too expensive or too difficult to use. The Navicore Personal memory card contains full and accurate street-level maps of a country or a larger area, e.g. the Benelux countries, in a tightly compressed package. Navicore’s application then uses this digital map to calculate accurate and detailed turn-by-turn routes to a destination. With GPS positioning, the Navicore Personal gives clear driving instructions on a map as the journey progresses, accompanied by clear visual signs and voice instructions.

“Navicore benefits from massive trends of convergence of applications on a mobile device and the rapidly rising demand for affordable personal navigation systems. We believe in Navicore’s vision to bring affordable high-quality navigation to the pockets of everyone by using mobile phones as a platform and look forward to helping the company grow internationally. I really think that soon the only way to get lost would be to lose your mobile phone,” says Sandeep Kapadia, Investment Director for Prime Technology Ventures.

"Navicore has shown that its products actually increase the sales of high-end smartphones. Navigation is the first application to fully utilize the capabilities of the new smartphones in a way that is meaningful and value adding to consumers. Exciting new applications can be built by leveraging the marriage of communication and navigation. Navicore has achieved this and yet retained intuitive simplicity of use," adds Jussi Hattula from Eqvitec Partners.

More information: Navicore Ltd, Panu Vuorela, +358 40 510 0952

Prime Technology Ventures is a leading early stage venture capital firm that focuses on investing in European companies in the information and communication technology industries. The firm has invested in companies in the Benelux countries, United Kingdom, Finland and Sweden. From its offices in Amsterdam and Cambridge the partnership manages over 120 million euro in committed capital. More information can be found at www.ptv.com.

EQVITEC Partners is the leading private and independent venture capital firm in the Nordic region with €300 million under management. EQVITEC focuses on technology companies and has invested in about 50 Finnish and international technology companies with growth potential. Additional information about EQVITEC Partners can be found at www.eqvitec.com

Holtron Ventures Ltd is a private and independent fund-based venture capital management company. It is founded in 1999 and it focuses on investing in seed and start-up stage companies within the information and communication technology sector in Finland and Scandinavia. Holtron Ventures acts as a value added investor closely coaching its entrepreneurs through the various development stages of their companies maximizing the return of investment for the investors of its funds. Holtron Ventures holds three different funds. Additional information about Holtron Ventures can be found at www.holtronventures.com