September 27, 2005
ViVOtech Secures $18.25 Million

ViVOtech, the leading supplier of Contactless payment solutions, today announced it has raised $18.25 million in Series B funding. The round is being led by Draper Fisher Jurveston. Also participating in the round are Nokia Growth Partners, DFJ Gotham and previous investor Alloy Ventures.

“The Contactless payment market has begun to expand rapidly,” said Josh Stein of Draper Fisher Jurveston, who is joining the ViVOtech Board coincident with this investment. “Over the next five years opportunities will be enormous as the payments industry introduces innovative new payment methods in the quest to replace cash, and enhance speed, convenience and security at the point of sale. We see ViVOtech as an innovator with ground-breaking payments solutions, very well positioned to take advantage of these opportunities.”

“We believe that widespread adoption of Contactless payment cards by consumers, banks and retailers will lay the foundation for a large opportunity to add payment capabilities to mobile phones using Near Field Communication (NFC) technology,” said Rob Trice, General Partner at Nokia Growth Partners. “With mobile phone and credit card users measuring in the billions globally, the market potential for mobile payments and for enablers of this transition like ViVOtech are endless.”

“We welcome Draper Fisher Jurveston, Nokia Growth Partners and DFJ Gotham to the ViVOtech team, and returning investor Alloy Ventures,” said Michael Mullagh, CEO of ViVOtech. “The participation of such prestigious investors is a vote of confidence in the market and the ViVOtech team. This additional funding will allow ViVOtech to grow stride for stride with the major participants in the multi-trillion dollar electronic payment market.”