Gimv plans to invest in buy-and-build strategy of French INSIDE Contactless
Gimv plans to invest EUR 11,2 million in a series-D financing of its French portfolio company INSIDE Contactless, a leader in contactless secure transaction chips solutions. The series-D financing will be provided by the existing INSIDE shareholders, led by Gimv and Sofinnova Partners. Moreover, this capital round will be joined by French sovereign wealth fund Fonds Stratégique d’Investissement (FSI). This financing will allow INSIDE Contactless to finance the takeover of the Secure Microcontroller Solutions (SMS) business of Nasdaq-listed Atmel Corporation (NASDAQ: ATML). The combination of both businesses has the potential of being a game-changing event in the smart card industry.
INSIDE Contactless (www.insidecontactless.com) was founded in 1995. Its innovative contactless and Near Field Communication (NFC) solutions are transforming how the world conducts transactions and information exchange. Today, consumers are using contactless smart cards for payments, transit, secure access, and identification applications in hundreds of thousands of locations worldwide. INSIDE leads this market with 400 million contactless platforms worldwide delivered. The company is headquartered in Aix-en-Provence (France), and has offices in Paris, Shanghai, Singapore, Warsaw, Seoul, Bangkok and San Francisco.
Today INSIDE Contactless signed a binding offer to purchase the Secure Microcontroller Solutions (SMS) business of Atmel Corporation, based in Rousset (France) and East Kilbride (UK). Both partners’ businesses are complimentary in terms of products, technologies, customer bases and operations. Moreover, the combined entity would create a leading pure-play fabless semiconductor company that is singularly focuses on smart, secure products and connectivity technology for secure transaction devices. The financing is subject to the realisation of the above-mentioned transaction, which is expected to close in the third quarter of 2010, subject to certain closing conditions.
Gimv is a shareholder in the company since 1998. Other investors in the company include Alta Berkeley, EuroUS Ventures, GGV Capital, Assa Abloy, Motorola, Nokia Growth Partners, Qualcomm, Samsung Venture Investment, Siparex, Sofinnova Partners, Vertex Venture Capital and Visa.
No additional financial information on this transaction will be disclosed. More information the company concerned can be found in the attached press release or on INSIDE Contactless’ website.