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Ubicall Completes the Call on Additional Financing
Brussels, Belgium- July 31st, 2001- UbiCall, a leading technology enabler for the exploding voice web market, announced a major development today: the raising of an additional 764,000 EUR (approximately $658,000 US) funds to continue development of the company. The new funding will accelerate the development of innovative tools aimed at reducing the cost and time needed to develop voice activated solutions, which will be launched by 2002. This additional investment continues to build UbiCall as Europe's leading voice technology expert and voice web one-stop-shop.
Venture capital and high profile business angels are providing UbiCall's new round of funding. Institutional investors include ProSeed Capital Holdings, CD Technicom SA, Invest Mons Borinage Centre Objectif-1, Venture Technology Holding SA. Business angels include Philippe Brawerman and Cécile Féront. Covington & Burling, a law firm, also participated in the round.
"With this additional investment, UbiCall will continue to develop its cutting edge software research and development of new voice activated products and tools, grow its customer service base, and expand its marketing functions," says Ugo Mosanya, CEO of UbiCall. "The Voice Web is taking the world by storm, and UbiCall is uniquely positioned to deliver the right solutions requested by the market and allow access to content and transactions via simple phone calls, all through the power of the voice."
Additionally, UbiCall has recruited for its board of Directors two very influential people in both the investor and technology communities within Europe and United States: Philippe Brawerman and Robert Anciaux. As an investor and board member, Mr. Brawerman brings to UbiCall his experience as co-founder and CEO of Reef, as well as former president of Cisco Systems for EMEA (Europe, Middle-East and Asia). He was recently voted as the most influential individual in high tech Europe by TIME Europe magazine. Another board member, Robert Anciaux, brings 20 years of experience in the venture capital industries of Europe and United States to UbiCall. As an active business angel and investor, Robert Anciaux sits on the boards of several high-tech companies.
About UbiCall Communications
Headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, with offices in San Francisco, California, UbiCall Communications is a leading technology enabler of the exploding Voice Web market. By using speech recognition and unified messaging technologies, UbiCall enables access to content and transactions via simple phone calls, all through the power of the voice. In addition to its full spectrum of professional services available in voice technology, UbiCall provides corporations, telecommunication carriers, ISP's and ASP's with original software applications to power corporate voice sites, voice portals, and vocal personal assistants, all with advanced personalization features. Ideal for any company wishing to provide for their customers or employees a personalized voice portal experience, UbiCall enables anyone to access company information and make transactions with the ease and convenience of a simple telephone call.
The legal advisers of UbiCall Communications are Liedekerke Wolters Waelbroeck Kirkpatrick & Cerfontaine, in Brussels, and Covington & Burling, in San Francisco. For additional information on UbiCall Communications, please visit http://www.ubicall.com, or contact Ugo Mosanya at +32 477 877 377 or +32 2 647 25 16, or by email (ugo.mosanya@ubicall.com).
ABOUT INVESTORS AND BOARD MEMBERS
ProSeed Capital Holdings CVA
ProSeed Capital Holdings CVA is an international investment company headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, with additional offices in Boston and Tel-Aviv. ProSeed invests in early stage companies in sectors such as Life Sciences and IT in Europe, Israel and the US. ProSeed's Chairman, Benjamin Van Oudenhove, is based in Brussels. Dror Ben-Asher, CEO, is based in Tel-Aviv and David Katsnelson, CFO, in Boston. For additional information please see www.proseedcapital.com.
TECHNICOM
TECHNICOM is a Belgian venture capital fund specialized in financing and assisting early-stage companies in the telecommunications and information technology sector. TECHNICOM currently has 20 investments in companies such as REEF, SELLIGENT, CAPCO, Info2clear, and Traff-X. TECHNICOM is a subsidiary of the Societe Regionale d'Investissement de Wallonie (S.R.I.W). For additional information, please contact Mr. Philippe Deville at +32.4.221.98.23
IMBC Objectif No 1
S.A. Invest Borinage-Centre (IBC) provides the areas of Mons, Borinage and Centre, with a new financial tool intended for small and medium sized companies (SME). I.M.B.C. Objectif No 1 is IBC's subsidiary specialized in venture capital namely focusing on developing high-tech corporations and innovative industrial actors. Of the 75,000,000 EUR at the disposal of IBC GROUP, 50,000,000 EUR have been invested in more than 300 companies. For additional information, please see www.imbc.be or contact Sylvie Creteur at +32.64.26.48.66
Covington & Burling
Covington & Burling is a leading international law firm, with more than 420 lawyers practicing in Washington, New York, San Francisco, London, and Brussels. Major practice areas include mergers and acquisitions, finance and taxation, antitrust and regulatory law, technology and intellectual property law, white-collar defense, as well as virtually all types of litigation and alternative dispute resolution proceedings. For additional information, please see www.cov.com or contact Jim Snipes at +1.415.5917071
Phillippe Brawerman
Mr. Brawerman brings over 15 years of experience in the international data communications industry to UbiCall, including five years as president of Cisco Systems for EMEA (Europe, Middle-East and Asia) and three years as President, CEO and co-founder of Reef (www.reef.com). Mr. Brawerman was selected by TIME Digital Europe as the most influential person in Europe's technology scene in their annual Top 25 list. Mr. Brawerman serves on the corporate boards of a number of top technology and media companies in both the United States and Europe. Mr. Brawerman holds a M. Sc. from the Polytechnic Institute of the University of Brussels.
Cécile Féront
Ms. Cecile Féront brings her experience of VP of Strategy & Business Development & Co-Founder of Reef, where she is responsible for managing major business and partnership opportunities and leading strategic acquisitions, while also driving the strategic planning process inside the company. Ms. Féront serves on the corporate boards of Reef and other top technology companies. Ms. Féront is a graduate of the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Paris.
Robert Anciaux
Mr. Anciaux has been active in the venture capital industry for over 20 years. In addition to his own investments, he has actively raised money in Europe for these U.S. venture capital funds. He has been a business angel for more than 20 start-up and turn around companies, and is a shareholder and a Board member of several companies, including Auriga S.A., Indigo Software Inc., Polysoc S.A., Robotic S.A. and Usana Inc.(Nasdaq: USNA). Mr. Anciaux is also active in real estate development projects in Europe and in the US. He holds a Commercial Engineering degree from Solvay Business School, Brussels University.
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