Mobile Technology Company Upoc Raises $18 Million In Second Round of Venture Funding; Backed by Patricof, Advent International, Tribune Ventures and 550 Digital Media Ventures.Business Editors NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 5, 2001 Upoc, the leading developer of mobile community technologies, today announced the close of an $18 million "B" round of venture capital funding. Lead investors Patricof & Co. Ventures, Inc. and Advent International Advent International - a long-established and leading global private equity investor Background Advent was founded in 1984 by Peter Brooke and Clint Harris to focus on international private equity investing. were joined in the round by Tribune Ventures and 550 Digital Media Ventures, a Sony Group Company. Upoc's "Series A" investors Allen & Company and Arts Alliance also participated this round. Upoc has developed the first open wireless community platform - a proprietary technology that allows users to send voice and text messages across any mobile device using any mobile carrier. The company's wireless platform allows clients to provide information distribution, community and commerce to their customers. Using Upoc's technology users can create mobile groups, join other user-generated groups, receive branded content Branded Content, also known as Branded entertainment and Advertainment, is a relatively new form of advertising medium that blurs conventional distinctions between what constitutes advertising and what constitutes entertainment. , forward messages, and send voice and text messages from any mobile device, PC, or landline phone. Through its wireless platform, Upoc enables marketers, retailers, consumer goods consumer goods Any tangible commodity purchased by households to satisfy their wants and needs. Consumer goods may be durable or nondurable. Durable goods (e.g., autos, furniture, and appliances) have a significant life span, often defined as three years or more, and , and media companies to instantly reach their prime audiences with mobile communities, content, and commerce. Upoc's partnerships with VoiceStream (NASDAQ NASDAQ in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on : VSTM VSTM Visual Short-Term Memory VSTM Verband Schweizer Tourismusmanager ) and AT&T's (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange : AWE) mobile Internet Refers to gaining access to the Internet using a lightweight, handheld device. See Mobile IP, PDA, smartphone and mobile TV. services, a strong validation of Upoc's community platform technology, serve to further its reach among wireless users and provide its clients national distribution networks with which to communicate with their customers. "Our investment in Upoc is an expression of our overall wireless data investment strategy," said Ted Schell, General Partner at Patricof & Co. Ventures, Inc. "Upoc has designed a messaging platform that is uniquely suited for the mobile user. This platform can integrate with both wireline and wireless applications, providing an increasingly powerful communications and marketing vehicle for enterprise customers." "With the rapid expansion of wireless use in America and the growing demand by marketers to reach the mobile consumer, it has been the perfect time for our technology to hit the market," said Gordon Gould Gordon Gould (July 17, 1920 — September 16, 2005) was an American physicist who is widely (but not universally) credited as the inventor of the laser. He is best known for his thirty-year fight with the United States Patent and Trademark Office to obtain patents for the , CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. and co-founder of Upoc. "The new additions to our board of directors and infusion of capital gives our company the resources we need to expand our technology and our reach throughout the industry." "Upoc provides consumer brands a powerful new marketing platform for reaching their increasingly mobile audience," said Kathleen O'Donnell, Principal at Advent International. "At the same time, consumers are adopting Upoc at an extraordinary rate because they can get information they want and share this information with each other across any mobile device. We believe Upoc has the potential to be a major force in the mobile revolution." "Wireless platform technology will be one of the key drivers of growth in the future," said Remy Stern, Investment Director, 550 Digital Media Ventures. "We're excited by the unique and powerful infrastructure that Upoc has deployed, and we think the company has great potential to provide wireless communication services to a wide range of businesses." "Upoc is an innovative company that is developing a cutting-edge product in one of the industry's most explosive areas," says Matt Burnham from Tribune Ventures. "Our strategy is to partner with emerging companies that are compatible with our vision. Upoc will help us further build our wireless Internet strategy, while developing a product that allows busy people to interact with colleagues anywhere, anytime." "Upoc fits into our strategy of investing in enabling applications that drive adoption of wireless technology," said Tori Hackett, Partner at Arts Alliance. "We believe that Upoc will drive huge growth in wireless voice and data usage." About Upoc Upoc is the leading developer of cross-platform, carrier-agnostic mobile community technologies for reaching consumers across any wireless device. Upoc enables marketers, retailers, consumer goods and media companies to instantly reach their prime audiences with mobile communities, content, commerce and targeted promotions. Launched as the first Start-up In Residence at Ericsson Cyberlab, Upoc has 45 employees and is based in New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. . About Patricof & Co. Ventures, Inc. Patricof & Co. Ventures, Inc. is a leading international private equity investment firm that together with its sister company, Apax Partners, manages more than $7.5 billion on behalf of leading institutional investors around the world. With more than 30 years of direct investing experience, the firm has built a solid reputation as an innovative, value-added investor. The firm provides long-term, equity financing Equity Financing The act of raising money for company activities by selling common or preferred stock to individual or institutional investors. In return for the money paid, shareholders receive ownership interests in the corporation. to companies in a broad range of industries, including IT/telecommunications, B2B (Business to Business) Refers to one business communicating with or selling to another. See B2B e-commerce, B2C and B2G. B2B - business to business eCommerce, services, healthcare, and consumer/retail. About Advent International Advent International is a leading international private equity investor, with more than $4.5 billion under management and offices in 15 countries. The firm invests in both early stage venture capital and later-stage private equity opportunities in the U.S., Europe, Asia and Latin America. Advent focuses on high-potential companies in selected growth industries, including telecommunications, media, software, electronics, business services, health care and life sciences. Since its founding in 1984, the firm has financed over 500 companies, more than 125 of which have completed initial public offerings. Advent is an active, hands-on investor Hands-On Investor An investor who holds a large portion of a company's shares and takes an active management role. Notes: The majority shareholders are usually hands-on investors and have the a great influence on the company's management decisions. , creating value through a unique combination of international experience and contacts, and close relationships with more than 35 multinational corporations that have invested in Advent funds. For more information, visit www.adventinternational.com. About 550 Digital Media Ventures 550 Digital Media Ventures (www.550DMV DMV abbr. Department of Motor Vehicles .com), a subsidiary of Sony Broadband Entertainment (SBE SBE - Microsoft Office Small Business Edition ) the U.S. holding company for Sony's music, motion pictures, television and related entertainment sites, was founded to founded to invest in technology, infrastructure, and service companies transforming the production, consumption, and delivery of digital media. 550 Digital Media Ventures invests in, starts and builds new ventures whose technology, infrastructure, services and business models transform the production, delivery and consumption of digital media. As the global investment arm for SBE, the 550 Digital Media Ventures portfolio spans such areas as broadband services, wireless, personal broadcasting, email/direct marketing, digital asset management, e-commerce facilitation and professional Internet services. 550 Digital Media Ventures is headquartered in New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of with offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles and London. About Tribune Ventures Tribune Ventures, the strategic investment unit of Tribune Company, invests in and partners with emerging new-media and technology companies across the U.S. that build and support Tribune's media businesses. In addition, Tribune Ventures is an active investor in early-stage Internet and technology companies based in the Midwest and on the East Coast. Tribune Ventures' public portfolio of equity investments includes America Online, Excite@Home, iVillage, Lightspan, and 24/7 Media. Private holdings include Dotcast, Dynamic Trade, The FeedRoom, iExplore, and ReplayTV. About Arts Alliance Founded in 1996, Arts Alliance is a leading trans-Atlantic venture capital firm investing in early stage Internet, wireless and broadband communications companies. Arts Alliance uses a hands-on approach to provide human capital and detailed operational and strategic expertise. Arts Alliance's investments include Atom Films (merged with Macromedia's Shockwave.com), eStyle, Firefly (acquired by Microsoft), Interactive Investor (LSE LSE - Language Sensitive Editor :III), Lastminute.com (LSE:LMC LMC Large Magellanic Cloud (also see SMC) LMC Library Media Center LMC Lees-McRae College (Banner Elk, NC) LMC Lutheran Medical Center LMC League of Minnesota Cities LMC Local Medical Committee ), Launch (NASDAQ:LAUN), Planet All (acquired by Amazon), PocketThis, Spinner (acquired by AOL (A division of Time Warner, Inc., New York, NY, www.aol.com) The world's largest online information service with access to the Internet, e-mail, chat rooms and a variety of databases and services. ), Upoc and Wide Learning. Arts Alliance is based in London and New York and maintains the Arts Alliance laboratory in San Francisco. |
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