Norkom Technologies, a firm which counts technology entrepreneur Mr Denis O'Brien among its investors, has raised €3.1 million cash for working capital purposes.

The Dublin-based firm, which has raised €35 million in venture funding to date, also said yesterday it had signed deals worth €5 million in the recent quarter.

Mr Paul Kerley, chief executive of Norkom, said the firm had clinched deals with several firms but could only disclose the details of a repeat deal with the retail banking subsidiary of ING Direct.

The company had agreed to rent Norkom's technology platform called Alchemist to enable it to manage and develop customer information, said Mr Kerley, who founded Norkom to develop analytical applications in customer relationship management in 1998.

Although ING Direct was an existing customer of Norkom, the deal was "all new business" and was worth a seven-figure sum. All the deals were worth more than €5 million, he added.

Norkom, which was forced to pull a stock exchange flotation in December 2000 and has implemented a major restructuring, will use the new venture capital raised as a buffer for ongoing operations.

Mr Kerley said the company had been running at a profit for three or four months and was now generating cash. No further funding would be needed, he said.

Existing investors Trinity Venture Capital, E-island, Enterprise Ireland and Goodbody technology fund participated in the €3.1 million funding round. It follows a €3 million funding round completed in July 2001 for working capital requirements, and brings the total amount of venture capital raised by Norkom to almost €40 million.

The software company, which once employed more than 200 staff, now employs 70 people. Mr Kerley said this was the right level in the present climate. He said Norkom had successfully changed its business model from direct sales to using partnerships with other firms. The company's decision to target the risk management and fraud markets was proving successful, he said. Norkom posted losses of €20 million in the year to March 2001, on revenues of €9.6 million. It will lose €5 million on revenues of €12.5 million for fiscal 2002, Mr Kerley said.