Business angels invest R5 mil software firm

Angel investment is allive and well as evident from the recent R5 mil investment into small business software provider, focussing specifically on internet telephony software for small businesses.

A Ireland-based technology firm that has developed breakthrough internet telephony software for small businesses and which has won key business from Intel has raised R5 mil through their business plan from the Business Angel Partnership.

Emutex, which is based in Raheen, Ireland, will use the investment to sustain development of its phone technology for small firms as well as support high-skilled employment in Ireland in the longer term.

Emutex’s phone solutions enable small businesses to seamlessly connect their office phones to the outside world using their broadband connection.

This enables businesses to significantly reduce recurring line rental and call charges while availing of corporate phone system features such as automated attendants, conferencing, recording and voicemail by email.

In October 2007, John Twomey and Mark Burkley, former senior engineers in Intel, paired together to form Emutex. Their vision was to form a software engineering company that designs and develops software solutions tailored to meet the needs of clients requiring electronic telecommunication, telemetry and IT products.

In December 2009, Tony Treacy, John Ryan through Axiom and Enterprise Ireland invested significant funds into the company to grow both its services and product businesses. The investments have since triggered significant growth and the team now look forward to challenging and exciting years as it strives to become a world leading software engineering solutions provider.

Enterprise Ireland’s Class of 2009 HPSU Showcase participant
Emutex recently participated in Enterprise Ireland’s Class of 2009 HPSU Showcase having graduated from the Enterprise Acceleration Centre (EAC) based in Ireland.

“This investment came at a crucial time in the development of Emutex and our IP PBX product range,” said Twomey, managing director of Emutex.

“As a result of the investment we’ve accelerated the development of our intellectual property and products, namely the VMX - a modern IP PBX software system - which we launched in Ireland in August and will soon launch in the UK.

“The investment also enabled us to grow our successful services business and deliver complex embedded software solutions to high-tech clients including Avocent, ResourceKraft, Cloudium Systems and, more recently, Intel Corporation.”

He went on to say: “The investment has triggered significant growth and we can now look forward to challenging and exciting years ahead as we strive to become a world leading software engineering solutions provider.”

The investment was made possible by the Business Angel Partnership (BAP), who specialises in matching potential investors with High-growth Potential Start-Ups (HPSUs).

Aidan O’Driscoll, of the Business Angel Partnership in the Mid-West commented on the investment: “Finding the right investor match for a company can be a long and frustrating time for a start-up.

“With Emutex, the hard work has paid off and the investment has provided them with a platform to execute their longer term growth plans as well as the development of their phone solutions products and subcontract embedded software services.”

CorkBIC manages The Business Angel Partnership (BAP) in the south and mid-west region - a joint initiative between Enterprise Ireland, InterTrade Ireland and the Irish Business Innovation Centres (BICs).

The BAP Operates on a regional basis, providing a matching service for private investors (Business Angels) and pre-screened investment opportunities in start-up, early stage and developing businesses.

This post was written by: Franklin Manuel

Franklin Manuel is a professional blogger, web designer and front end web developer. Follow him on Twitter