High-tech Dublin firm raises close to €7m

Xiam, a Dublin-based firm that develops mobile messaging technology software, has raised €6.75 million (£5.31 million) in venture capital funding.

London-based Add Partners led the funding round, which included Enterprise Ireland, and existing investors Vertex management and Delta Partners.

Mr Colm Healy, chief operating officer at Xiam, told The Irish Times yesterday the firm should break even by the fourth quarter of the year.

In contrast to many firms that received money over the past few years, Xiam will not aim to expand its complement of 55 staff quickly or open a raft of new offices overseas.

"The focus last year for technology firms was to build the company before the revenues," said Mr Healy. "But now every company has to really conserve its resources."

Xiam will use the cash to fund ongoing research and development with its core software product, the Xiam information router, and a new product line in XML language.

The information router product enables firms to move information quickly from data bases, the Web and mail servers using mobile networks. The latest version is WAP compatible, Mr Healy said.

Targeted at mobile operators and enterprise customers, the deal size varies between €15,000 and €350,000. Xiam's major customer is Eircell, which has persuaded 150 of its largest customers to use the software.

According to Mr Healy, Xiam recently signed up a major mobile operator in the UK, but he declined to name it at this stage.

Xiam is also close to releasing a new product line in the XML field, which is expected to be crucial in the development of third-generation mobile technologies. "This technology makes it much easier for developers working with XML and will help anyone needing to process XML," he said. "We have people in Japan looking at a beta test now."

Ongoing support for Xiam's overseas offices in Singapore, Tokyo and continental Europe will also consume some of the new finances.

The company employs 10 staff overseas and its presence in the Far East is strategically important because of the region's lead in mobile technologies, Mr Healy said.

One of the firm's existing investors, Vertex Management, is headquarted in Singapore. Xiam also has offices in London and Paris. Details of the amount of equity received by the venture capitalists were not released but Mr Healy admitted valuations had dropped since the firm raised $2 million (€1.79 million) last year for a 20 per cent stake.

The majority shareholders in Xiam are the two founders, Mr Robert Baker, chief executive, and Mr Warren Buckley, chief technology officer.