Synchronica (News - Alert), the mobile e-mail and synchronization specialist, has entered into a conditional agreement to acquire the operating subsidiary of competitor, AxisMobile.

 

With an aim to fund the combined business, Synchronica has also raised £5.1m in two institutional placing by FinnCap.

 

The placings and the acquisition are expected to accelerate the commercial growth and product development roadmap of Synchronica and increase its ability to provide e-mail to the vast majority of handsets.

 

Moreover, Synchronica believes that the AxisMobile acquisition will give it an immediate access to technology necessary to better exploit the emerging markets opportunity complementing Synchronica’s Mobile Gateway (News - Alert) with a client-less solution for WAP phones, as well as ‘e-mail to SMS’ and ‘e-mail to MMS’ gateways enabling even the most basic phones to send and receive e-mail.

 

AxisMobile already has a strong footprint in Eastern Europe, Russia and CIS with eight operators live, whilst Synchronica has a strong sales presence in the Middle East, Asia and Latin America.

 

With little or no overlap in the sales force, the combined business will target growth in the emerging markets with a particular emphasis on Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, Russia and Eastern Europe.

 

“The fundraising and the acquisition of AxisMobile is a dramatic acceleration for Synchronica and I believe that it will build value for our shareholders. We aim to build a world-leader in the market of consumer mobile email and synchronisation solutions, and this acquisition is a key milestone, which will improve our competitive positioning and accelerate our commercial growth,” said Carsten Brinkschulte (News - Alert), Synchronica’s CEO.

 

Brinkschulte explained that the acquisition will also increase the company’s ability to sell to customers, particularly to those in emerging economies, where it sees the largest potential growth for mobile e-mail and synchronization.

 

With the fundraising and the acquisition of AxisMobile, Synchronica now has sufficient mass and funding to take advantage of the outstanding opportunity to exploit the commercial potential of mass-market mobile e-mail, according to Brinkschulte.

 

Shai Schiller, executive chairman of AxisMobile, stated, “We are delighted to join forces with Synchronica. We share the vision of mobile email and its huge potential in the consumer market. Synchronica is the ideal partner for AxisMobile, with complimentary technology and customer relations. They are our preferred partner to build mass at this exciting time for the industry.” 

Synchronica develops and markets industry standard mobile e-mail and synchronization solutions for the vast majority of devices in the market today. Mobile operators, device manufacturers and service providers in emerging and developed markets use Synchronica products to offer mobile e-mail, PIM synchronization and backup and restore services to their consumer and corporate customer base. Products include the push e-mail and synchronization solution Mobile Gateway and the mass-market device backup solution Mobile Backup.