Local E-Commerce Firm Obtains $2M
Japanese Investment
PacketVideo, a San Diego-based developer of software that enables both audio and video transmissions to wireless devices, is capturing the attention of a lot of notable telecommunications firms in Europe.
After participating in an information technology conference organized by the California Trade and Commerce Agency, the 2-year-old company signed a number of partnering agreements with some of the heaviest hitters in Europe, including Siemens, Royal Philips Electronics, and Reuters Group PLC.
All totaled through four rounds of equity financing, PacketVideo has secured about $42.5 million, but the current round should be the largest ever, said Angeanette Rettig, PacketVideo’s vice president of corporate communications.
“Our goal is to raise between $50 million and $100 million,” she said about the round that will close next month.
Heady stuff for a company that a year ago had only 10 employees and just began demonstrating its technology. Today, more than 270 employees work for the firm at its eight offices, including more than 100 in the San Diego headquarters.
The local office has mostly engineers working in research and development, marketing and sales staff, and management.
Its other domestic offices are in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York, while it has sales offices in London, Shanghai, Seoul and Tokyo.
The privately held company doesn’t release earnings or sales figures, but its growth rate is evident. Last week, PacketVideo was recognized by the trade and commerce agency for its success in lining up European partners.
“PacketVideo is a shining example of a leading company that has leveraged the unique opportunities offered to both presenting companies and European delegates at Cal-IT,” said Jeffrey Gersick, managing director for Europe, Middle East and Africa for trade and commerce.
James Carol, PacketVideo’s CEO and founder, said the award is testament to the company’s success in Europe. He attributed much of that success to the introductions the firm received at its first Cal-IT conference last year.
PacketVideo’s technology is on the cutting edge of the intersection of wireless communications and the Internet. Through its software, mobile wireless system operators can provide customers with data, audio and video content to mobile information devices, including smart phones, personal digital assistants, and laptop computers.
The technology is used in three types of PDAs, but will be included in smart phones that will carry both voice and video that will be introduced, first in Japan, sometime next year, Rettig said.
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Miva Gets Japanese Investment: San Diego-based Miva Corp., a maker of E-commerce software, said it obtained a $2 million investment from Sumitomo Corp., among Japan’s largest sogoshoshas, or integrated trading companies, and Internet Research Institute, a Japan-based infrastructure and business incubator.
Miva said it plans to use the funds to help in its expansion plans to Japan and for development of a new line of consumer marketing services.
Miva has translated its software to German and opened a European office in Munich. It also is in the process of translating it to Italian and French.
Founded in 1996, Miva is a provider of information services to small- and medium-sized companies. The private firm now has 55 employees but expects to have about 70 by the end of this year, said spokeswoman Sherry Isler.
Lightpointe Buys German Division: San Diego-based Lightpointe Communications, a provider of optical and microwave telecom systems, acquired the Optical Products Division of Teleconnect, Gmbh, based in Dresden, Germany, earlier this month.
The acquisition of the 12-person firm complements Lightpointe’s manufacturing operations at its local plant and boosts the company’s staff count to about 40 people, including some 20 working in San Diego, said Larry Prior, chief financial officer.
Prior, formerly an executive with High Technology Solutions and county CAO, has been with Lightpointe since April.
Privately held Lightpointe, founded two years ago, didn’t disclose the asset purchase price nor their revenues.
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Institute Gets Water Grant: The Institute of the Americas, a nonprofit that makes its home on the UCSD campus, recently received a three-year grant of $270,000 from the U.S. Department of Commerce aimed at helping U.S. companies export water infrastructure equipment to Latin America.
The institute was one of seven recipients of the grants from a field of 45 organizations that applied.
The funding, which will be matched by some funds from the institute, will be used to organize seminars and roundtable meetings between government officials and water infrastructure equipment companies from both the U.S. and Latin American nations, said Hans Beets, senior fellow and co-chairman of the institute’s water program.
Presto Buys Central America Online: San Diego-based Presto Telecommunications Inc. has acquired Central America Online, an Internet service provider based in San Jose, Costa Rica, for an undisclosed sum.
Presto said the purchase will allow the company to expand its services from its existing base in Mexico to Central America and the rest of the Caribbean.
Mike Fox, the founder of Central America Online, was named president of Presto’s Central America and Caribbean regions.
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International Trade Seminars: The Center for International Trade Development and the California-Mexico Trade Assistance Center at Southwestern College in Chula Vista offers a schedule of individual seminars dealing with various trade issues. Next up on the schedule from Nov. 13 to 16 is a class on supervision. Future seminars are Nov. 29, International Protocol; Dec. 5, 7, 12 and 14, Doing Business in Mexico; and Dec. 13, ABC’s of Exporting. The seminars are free or offered at a nominal charge. For more information, call (619) 482-6391.
Trade Winds: San Diego World Trade Center, in partnership with the Department of Commerce and the Software and Information Industry Association, hosts a seminar, “E is for Exports: Global Sales Powered by the Internet,” from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Nov. 3. The keynote speaker for the seminar is Robert LaRussa, undersecretary for international trade at the U.S. Department of Commerce. SDWTC holds its annual awards ceremony at 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 9, at the Birch Aquarium at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The theme of this year’s event is “Celebrate Mexico.” The Asian Business Association holds its annual awards dinner Nov. 18 at the Westin Horton Plaza. The organization will hand out an Entrepreneur of the Year award, Emerging Asian Business of the Year award; Member of the Year award; and several college scholarships.
Send news items on international business to mallen@sdbj.com.
