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Cyantel, a location-based services company from Cork, has secured second round funds of EUR1 million from backers including Enterprise Ireland and HotOrigin.
The company's first major customer was Vodafone in Ireland, which signed a contract last year for Cyantel's fleet tracking application. Cyantel's products let mobile operators offer a range of services to business customers who want to track and exchange messages with workers in the field, such as mobile sales staff or couriers.
Other Cyantel applications aimed at mobile operators include consumer oriented services that let mobile subscribers find their nearest top-up terminal, as well as a "special offers" application that lets consumers give their consent to be targeted with deals from nearby merchants. Cyantel said its applications suit current networks, as well as emerging GPRS and third generation networks.
Padraig Murphy, chief executive of Cyantel, said the new funds would enable the company to build up its management team and expand further into European markets.
Although it had been reported last autumn that Cyantel was seeking EUR2 million in funding, Murphy said he was not disappointed with the EUR1 million secured.
"It just means that we need to adjust the level of investment that [we] do over time," he told ElectricNews.Net. "These are lean times for investment; we're not disappointed."
Cyantel operates in a market that is scheduled to grow steadily in the coming years as mobile operators seek to boost average revenue per user, and move to differentiate themselves by offering better services to business customers.
On the consumer side, Murphy said that while some location-based services are already on offer in countries including the UK, more advanced applications will roll out towards the end of this year and next year, such as a "mobile yellow pages" that lets customers request their nearest dry cleaners, for example.
"Operators in Europe are only beginning to trial consumer applications at this stage," he said. "What we see across Europe is that many operators are investing in the underlying technology to extract location information from their networks. Before they can introduce widespread consumer offers they also need to manage the privacy aspect, to ensure that people feel confident in the services being offered to them."
Cyantel estimates that by the end of the year around 40 to 50 mobile operators in Europe alone will be seeking to implement location-based services. The company declined to give a value for its contract with Vodafone, but said contracts with mobile operators are typically in the six figure range, depending on the deal agreed.
Cyantel was advised by Deloitte & Touche and Holohan & Associates on the funding round, which also included funds from private investors. HotOrigin, the early stage investment and consultancy firm, was advised by Brian O'Donnell & Associates.
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