Tag Archives: Telecom

Telia Company to acquire Fält Communications AB

Telia

Telia Company accelerates its activities within the Smart Cities space by acquiring Fält Communications AB (Fältcom), a leading and well established company in the growing Nordic connected public transportation market.

“Fältcom is a market leader in Scandinavia and has recently seen early success internationally. The combination of great products and services, and talented and passionate people, will position the combined companies to become the leading provider of Smart Public Transport services whilst laying a foundation for further expansion in the Smart Transport & Logistics and Smart City space,” says Brendan Ives, Head of Telia Company’s emerging businesses unit Division X, and continues: “This is also fully in line with our ambition to find digital solutions to societal challenges such as climate change while making cities more liveable”

Swedish company Fältcom was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Umeå. The company has roughly 40 employees. Fältcom’s systems make it possible for customers to monitor and control devices in one place on the globe from another. The company today has more than 160,000 installations, of which 40,000 are online, in buildings, vehicles, and customized IoT solutions. Fältcom is the market leader in Scandinavia for mobile platforms on buses, and every speed camera in Sweden is equipped with its technology. For 2016, Fältcom had preliminary revenues of SEK 83 million.

Fältcom’s main owners SEB Venture Capital and Nordic VC Industrifonden together own 93 percent of Fältcom and the employees own the remaining 7 percent. The acquisition is expected to close in February. The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price.

“Fältcom and Telia Company share a common belief that open platforms and ecosystems are key to unleashing the endless possibilities of IoT. Having achieved a market leading position, we are really excited to be part of Telia Company. Together we’ll strengthen our market position, open up significant growth potential and accelerate the rate at which we can create value for our customers and partners,” says Mikael Långström, CEO of Fältcom.

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AddSecure sold to ABRY Partners

Viking Venture is pleased to announce the sale of portfolio company AddSecure to ABRY Partners, a Boston US based private equity firm. AddSecure is the Nordic market leader providing secure mission-critical machine to machine communications for security and other applications across a wide range of verticals including healthcare, public safety, transportation and utilities. 

AddSecure manages a highly secure communications platform enabling the automated control and remote monitoring and management of sensors and other devices deployed in the field.

The company was established after the merger of the Viking Venture backed company Safetel AS and Multicom Security in 2014. Safetel AS was founded in 2000 based on a fundamental belief that mobile communication networks would be well suited to provide secure critical communication. Safetel received funding from Viking Venture, B. Skaugen AS and Follum Invest and grew quickly to become a strong Nordic player.

Following the merger, AddSecure has grown into employing around 120 people, having 120,000+ active subscribers and a strong network of over 1,000+ channel partners in Norway and Sweden. The company had revenues of SEK 374 mill. in 2015 with an EBITDA of SEK 124 mill.

“AddSecure is a great example of how we can develop world class Norwegian technology into internationally leading businesses through organic and inorganic growth”, said Erik Hagen, Managing Partner at Viking Venture.

“AddSecure has managed to achieve a unique position within the Scandinavian secure communications market. Scandinavian tech companies are at the forefront of global development, and we truly believe AddSecure has the potential to establish itself as an international M2M communications player in the coming years”, said Rob Nicewicz, Principal at ABRY Partners.

Read more in Adresseavisen June 17 2016 (only in Norwegian).

About Viking Venture
Viking Venture is one of the leading Nordic venture funds and invests in growth companies within IT and Oil and Gas with a potential to grow internationally. Viking Venture is managing funds with NOK 1.4 and has invested in 40 companies. Viking Venture is based in Trondheim, Norway and has presence in the US and the UK. See www.vikingventure.com.

About AddSecure
AddSecure is a leading Nordic company within secured critical communication systems. The business emerged at the beginning of the 1970s and has today more than 100 000 business clients and 120 employees in Scandinavia. The company’s communications services for alarm and mobile data protects life, property and public functions. The offered solutions are flexible, easy to install and increases the clients’ competitive strength. The ambition is to be the preferred choice in the Nordics and a leading player in the Northern Europe. For more information please visit www.addsecure.com

About ABRY Partners
Founded in 1989, ABRY Partners is one of the most experienced and successful media, communications, business and information services focused private equity investment firms in North America. Since its founding, ABRY has completed over $61 billion of transactions, representing investments in over 550 properties.

Contact persons:
Erik Hagen, Managing Partner Viking Venture +47 920 22 430
erik.hagen@vikingventure.no

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