VoluBill (France) - Dec 2007

unquote
01 December 2007

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XAnge Private Equity has led a €10.5m fourth round of funding in mobile data specialist VoluBill, alongside all existing investors. Following this latest round, Sofinnova Ventures owns 17% of the business, Sofinnova Partners 17%, Argo Capital 15%, Deutsche Venture Capital 11%, while XAnge and Seventure hold 10% each. Management retains the balance. Corporate finance boutique Clipperton Finance was mandated to look into both acquisition and fundraising opportunities. The M&A adviser ran an auction which attracted three UK-based venture capital firms and one French one. The company should not require further funding, unless it undertakes a particularly large acquisition. A trade sale, perhaps to a network equipment manufacturer, appears as a possible exit route, but an IPO is also possible. Venture capital firms first invested €11m in the company at its inception in 2001. Sofinnova Ventures injected €4m, Sofinnova Partners €4m, and Argo Capital €3m. At the time, parent company Cegetel retained an 18% stake (December 2001, page 16). In 2003, the same consortium injected an additional €3.9m. In 2004, Deutsche Venture Capital and Spef Venture (now known as Seventure) joined the syndicate of investors in another €11m round (February 2005, page 23).

Company

Grenoble-headquartered VoluBill has developed software allowing mobile operators to analyse the IP packets sent and received by its customers. This information, relating notably to usage parameters such as size, content value and time, can then be used to optimise the pricing of mobile content used. It can also be used to regulate access to information within companies, to monitor this access, or for security applications. The company, which already generates double-digit million euros in turnover and is close to breaking even, is particularly active in emerging markets, with clients in India, the Middle East and Africa. The firm will aim to develop more applications, which will optimise the monetisation of its proprietary technology. Acquisitions are also highly likely. The company currently employs 75 staff.

People

Nicolas Rose and Rodolphe Menegaux worked on the transaction for XAnge Private Equity. Valérie Gombart represented Seventure, while Eric Buatois worked for Sofinnova Ventures. Olivier Protard negotiated on behalf of Sofinnova Partners, Cyril Bertrand worked for Deutsche Venture Capital and Vesa Jormakka did so for Argo Capital. John Aalbers has been VoluBill’s CEO since January 2006.

Advisers

Equity - Jones Day, Geoffroy Pineau-Valencienne, Olivier Edwards (Legal)Management - Clipperton Finance, Nicolas von, Stéphane Valorge (Corporate Finance)Management - lamy & Associés, Edouard Eliard, Eric Baroin (Legal)

Sourced from: France unquote" 87 (Jan 2008)