inode

01 February 2006

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gamma capital partners (gcp) and Global Equity Partners (GEP) have sold their investment in ISP inode to UPC Austria, a subsidiary of Liberty Global Inc for â‚¬94m. The deal is the largest venture-backed exit seen in Austria 2005 and has brought a cash return to the investors of 3.5x within just one year of investment into the company. The sale was completed on 27 December 2005 and is subject to agreement from the Austrian competition authorities. inode is a broadband internet service provider specialising in the Austrian market, currently providing over 100,000 customers with services in the areas of xDSL, ADSL, internet telephony, server housing, web hosting and domain services. The company currently services 57% of the Austrian market for ISP applications. It has also led pioneering services such as broadband last-mile unbundling or VoIP internet telephony services. The company was founded in 1996 and has approximately 300 employees. Based in Vienna, inode forecasts revenues of â‚¬56m for 2005. Herbert Herdlicka of GEP and Klaus Matzka of gcp led the transaction on behalf of the financial investors, supported by Nikolaus Spieckermann-Hutter (gcp) and Reinhard Fischer (GEP).

Previous funding

gamma capital partners and Global Equity Partners led an initial round totalling â‚¬10.5m (including a mezzanine facility) in the company in December 2004 (January 2005, page 12). Since then gcp and GEP have invested an additional â‚¬4m in equity following the initial commitment. Both Klaus Matzka of gcp and Herbert Herdlicka of GEP, former internet entrepreneurs who founded, scaled and successfully sold businesses in the 1990â€™s, joined inodeâ€™s board after the closing in December 2004.