OZ Raises USD$34 Million in Second Round of Financing.Leading consumer mobile messaging provider to use funds to deliver next generation mobile messaging services MONTREAL -- OZ, the leading consumer mobile messaging solution provider, today announced that it has raised USD USD In currencies, this is the abbreviation for the U.S. Dollar. Notes: The currency market, also known as the Foreign Exchange market, is the largest financial market in the world, with a daily average volume of over US $1 trillion. $34 million in its second round of financing. The sizeable new round recognizes OZ as the established market leader in the consumer IM and email market and demonstrates the high degree of confidence that investors and mobile operators have in the Company's leadership, team and value proposition. Leading the second round is the Caisse de depE[sup.3]t et placement du Quebec, a Canadian institutional fund manager. Joining the Caisse is VantagePoint Venture Partners, a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm who led OZ's first round of financing; and Fonds de Solidarite (FTQ FTQ Fédération des Travailleurs du Québec FTQ First Time Quality FTQ Fetch Target Queue FTQ Fond de Solidarité de La Fédération des Travailleurs du Québec ), a Canadian capital Noun 1. Canadian capital - the capital of Canada (located in southeastern Ontario across the Ottawa river from Quebec) capital of Canada, Ottawa Ontario - a prosperous and industrialized province in central Canada investment fund. This financing will provide OZ with the means to continue to expand its mobile messaging offering, drive usage, expand its sales and marketing reach and continue to provide top-notch service to its wide range of mobile operator, OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) The rebranding of equipment and selling it. The term initially referred to the company that made the products (the "original" manufacturer), but eventually became widely used to refer to the organization that buys the products and and service provider customers from around the world. "OZ has a practical and well-developed product strategy with a strong competitive edge," said Sylvain Gareau, Senior Vice President, Investments, Funds at Caisse de depE[sup.3]t et placement du Quebec. "OZ understands the mobile operators' dilemma of providing coveted cov·et v. cov·et·ed, cov·et·ing, cov·ets v.tr. 1. To feel blameworthy desire for (that which is another's). See Synonyms at envy. 2. To wish for longingly. See Synonyms at desire. mobile services to its subscribers; and their solution responds to this complex situation while continuing to drive innovation and provide consumers with an easy way to stay connected." "We identified early on that OZ has the right technology, leadership and vision to succeed in this space," said Eric Ver Ploeg, Managing Director at VantagePoint Venture Partners. "OZ is uniquely capable of enabling mobile operators to provide their customers with a simple way to access their network of friends and family with IM, email and a variety of additional mobile messaging solutions; while creating new revenue streams for the operator, handset manufacturer and portal. We are very pleased to be participating in this round of financing." According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Yankee Group, the global forecast for the consumer mobile messaging segment is expected to continue its robust growth from over $50 billion in revenues in 2006 to over $67 billion by 2009, making it one of the fastest growing categories in the mobile communications industry.1 There are 944 million IM accounts, 1.4 billion email addresses and over 200 million social networking users on the Internet today; and all of these people are generating 10's of billions of messages every day. However, only a small fraction of these people are using these applications on their mobile phones, but when asked in a recent OZ poll, 40% of respondents said that they would use mobile IM and Email on their phones if it is was easy and affordable - this is the opportunity that OZ is going after. "We welcome our new investors and like to thank them for their support and validation of our hard work and future prospects," said Skuli Mogensen, 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. & Founder of OZ. "With this new financing and great position in the market with our existing IM & email products we are uniquely positioned to become the leading enabler of Mobile Messaging Services in a converged World. We will continue to focus on usage and usability of our services as we embark on new integrated Messaging Services together with our customers and partners from around the world!" About OZ OZ empowers consumers to stay connected with mobile IM and email solutions that provide users with an affordable, easy, seamless and always-on mobile messaging experience. Working with the leading mobile operators, portals/ISPs and handset manufacturers, OZ delivers innovative and standards-based solutions that provide rich and fully integrated messaging experiences on millions of mobile devices. Leading companies that are Powered by OZ[TM] include: 3 Scandinavia, Alltel, 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. , Bell Mobility, Boost Mobile, Bouygues Telecom, Cingular, Dobson, KPN KPN Koninklijke PTT Nederland (Royal Dutch Telecom) KPN Konfederacja Polski Niepodleglej (Polish conservative party) , Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia, Pantech Pantech can be:-
Tcl - Tool Command Language & Alcatel Mobile Phones, TelefE[thorn]nica ME[thorn]viles EspaEa, Telus Mobility, T-Mobile USA([R]) and Virgin Mobile USA Virgin Mobile USA (NYSE: VM) is a cellular telephone company that is a joint-venture between Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group and Sprint Nextel. Virgin Mobile USA uses Sprint's CDMA-based Personal Communications Service (PCS) network. . OZ is a privately held company privately held company A firm whose shares are held within a relatively small circle of owners and are not traded publicly. headquartered in Montreal, Canada, with regional offices in the US, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit the OZ website at www.oz.com. About Caisse de depE[sup.3]t et placements du Quebec The Caisse de depE[sup.3]t et placement du Quebec is a financial institution that manages funds primarily for public and private pension and insurance plans. As of December 31, 2005, it held $122.2 billion of net assets Net assets The difference between total assets on the one hand and current liabilities and noncapitalized long-term liabilities on the other hand. net assets See owners' equity. . The Caisse invests in the main financial markets as well as in private equity and real estate. Its private equity team focuses on companies with the potential for strong growth and returns. The institution partners with dynamic companies in various sectors, offering them a full range of debt and 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. products. As of December 31, 2005, the private equity portfolios held $10.9 billion of net assets. For more information: www.lacasisse.com. About VantagePoint Venture Partners VantagePoint Venture Partners is among the most active and successful venture firms in the world with more than $4.0 billion of capital under management. The Firm invests exclusively in technology driven companies and is organized around deep expertise and resources in key areas of interest: CleanTech, Healthcare, Internet and Digital Media, and Mobile and Wireless technologies. VantagePoint is a multi-stage investor, investing in high growth businesses at all stages of development. The Firm believes in applying a hands-on and team oriented approach to companies of lasting value. The Firm supports each of its portfolio companies, including wireless investments in InnoPath, OZ Communications, RadioFrame and Sotto Wireless, with the resources of a dedicated team of VantagePoint professionals able to contribute a blend of company building, technology, operations, marketing, and corporate finance expertise. For more information: www.vpvp.com. About Fonds de Solidarite (FTQ) With assets of $6.6 billion, the Solidarity Fund QFL QFL Quebec Federation of Labour (Canada) QFL Queensland Football League QFL Quoted for Lies (internet slang) QFL Qualified Products List is a development capital fund that through its RRSP See Registered Retirement Savings Plan. RRSP See registered retirement savings plan (RRSP). channels the savings of Quebecers into investments in all sectors of the economy to help create and maintain jobs and contribute to Quebec's economic development. The organization is a partner, either directly or through its network members, in 1,681 companies. The Fund currently has over 573,000 shareholders and has helped, on its own or with other financial partners, create, maintain and support over 116,644 jobs. For more information, visit www.fondsftq.com Copyright [c] 2006 OZ Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The OZ logo and Powered by OZ are trademarks of OZ Communications Inc. All other trademarks are the properties of their respective owners. 1 Yankee Group - June 2006 - Global Mobile Data Application Forecast |
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