LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–June 30, 2003–Bitfone Corporation (www.bitfone.com), a leader in over-the-air (OTA) firmware update technology for mobile phones, today announced it hassecured additional funding from Motorola Ventures, the venture capital investment arm of Motorola, Inc. This investment will bring Bitfone’s total funding to over $35 million. Previous investorsinclude Nokia Venture Partners, St Paul Venture Capital, 3i, Nexit Ventures, Orange Ventures, KTB Ventures and CIR Ventures.
“The investment from Motorola reinforces our position as trusted experts in over-the-air reflash technology, capable of bringing a fault-tolerant and cost-saving solution into the mainstream,” said Gene Wang, chairman and CEO, Bitfone. “With our incredible roster of investors, and the relationships they facilitate with the leading handset manufacturers and carriers, we have the means to foster widespread adoption of OTA firmware updates.”
“We look for innovative technologies that are based on sound business fundamentals and satisfy a market need,” said Warren Holtsberg, corporate vice president, Motorola Ventures. “We believe that Bitfone’s management team and patent-pending technology position the company to become a leader in providing critical OTA device management solutions to wireless handset manufacturers and carriers worldwide.”
Today’s announcement makes Bitfone the first company to receive funding from both Motorola Ventures and Nokia Venture Partners.
Bitfone’s mProve is the first commercially available product for updating a wireless phone’s entire firmware over the air, in a 100% fault-tolerant manner. mProve offers service providers and mobile phone manufacturers significant cost savings by reducing product recalls, phone replacements and retail center servicing due to software defects. mProve also accelerates time to market for mobile phones, and provides an efficient delivery vehicle for high-margin, value-added services and features.
Hang Xu, CFO, Bitfone, said, “While other companies are struggling to get funded, Bitfone continues to attract top tier investors by demonstrating an exceptional value proposition. With this new funding from Motorola Ventures, along with recent funding from Orange Ventures and KTB Ventures, we are in great shape to execute on our business plan.”
About Motorola
Motorola Ventures (MV) is the global, strategic venture capital investment arm of Motorola, Inc. MV actively invests at early stages in developing companies of strategic value to Motorola in order to accelerate access to new technologies, new markets and new talent. For more information, please visit: www.motorola.com/ventures.
Motorola, Inc. (NYSE:MOT) is a global leader in providing integrated communications and embedded electronic solutions. Sales in 2002 were $27.3 billion. Motorola is a global corporate citizen dedicated to ethical business practices and pioneering important technologies that make things smarter and life better, honored traditions that began when the company was founded 75 years ago this year. For more information, please visit: www.motorola.com
About Bitfone Corporation
Bitfone Corporation provides innovative software solutions for mobile device management. Bitfone’s mProve(TM) is the wireless industry’s leading technology that updates a mobile phone’s core embedded operating system over the air, in a secure and fault-tolerant manner. mProve offers wireless manufacturers and carriers significant cost savings in the areas of warranty, recall and customer service, and expedites the time to market for mobile phones. Bitfone is a global company headquartered in Laguna Niguel, California, with offices in Finland, Japan and Korea. Bitfone’s investors include Nokia Venture Partners, St. Paul Venture Capital, 3i, Nexit Ventures, Motorola, Inc., Orange Ventures, KTB Ventures and CIR Ventures. For more information, please visit www.bitfone.com.
