EVF invests in mobile technologies
Warsaw, 25 April 2012 — Enterprise Venture Fund I (EVF), the venture capital fund managed by Enterprise Investors, has invested €5.5 million in BLStream, a software company specializing in mobile technologies. Following the expansion financing and buyout transaction EVF holds 35% of the company. BLStream is planning potential acquisitions and intends to develop its proprietary software products with the newly acquired funds
BLStream develops, produces and maintains software for mobile devices (e.g. smartphones and tablets) and develops gaming content for mobile devices and gaming consoles. The company is also a recognized system integrator, connecting modern mobile technologies with online services and legacy IT systems. BLStream’s customers can use mobile devices for remote work, connecting to systems, services and data on the internet or at the company’s own servers.
Founded in 1999, BLStream is based in Finland but almost all of the development work has been done by Polish IT specialists. BLStream’s innovative system solutions, applications and games are currently running in several hundred million portable devices globally. The company has been a long-term software development partner for leading global communication, consumer and entertainment brands such as Good Technology, Intel, Nokia, Play, and BBC as well as almost all of the leading global participants of the gaming software market.
As a result of a record increase in mobile business software, BLStream has grown exponentially. Its consolidated revenues reached €10.5 million in 2011, which represents 50% growth over the previous year. The company employs 250 IT specialists.
“We are more than happy to have started our partnership with BLStream. The company’s extensive experience in the field of mobile technologies and hundreds of projects completed for leading global technology players provide the perfect base for BLStream’s rapid development in the near future. The launch of smartphones, and especially tablets, has resulted in a very dynamic increase in the demand for mobile software. People want to use mobile devices not only for fun and socializing, but also for work and other purposes. This trend looks set to continue, which I think will help the company triple the scale of its operations over the next four years,” said Tomasz Piętka, vice president at Enterprise Investors, who leads this investment.
“Securing such an experienced and credible investor as Enterprise Investors is a great achievement for us. Due to the rapid growth in mobile device usage worldwide, BLStream wants to accelerate growth through rapid acquisition of new customers. To achieve this goal faster we needed a partner that could provide additional capital and support our further growth, as well as help us attract top talent and find acquisition targets. Hence the owners of the company decided to partner with a venture capital investor,” commented Samuli Koski-Lammi, BLStream’s founder.