Delta Partners announces first closing of DEF II

Dateline: 12 February 2001

Delta Partners, the European early stage technology venture capital firm based in Dublin, has announced the first closing of its third fund, Delta Equity Fund II at €65 million.

To date, Delta Equity Fund II has attracted investments from Bank of Ireland, Bank of Ireland Asset Management (BIAM), BancBoston Capital, Wellcome Trust, European Investment Fund (EIF), Vertex, Hibernian Asset Management and a number of other Irish, European and US institutions. The investor base expands substantially on that of prior funds, reflecting the growing interest of American and continental European investors in the burgeoning technology sector in Ireland.

The majority of investments from Delta II will be made within Ireland and will focus on start-up and early stage technology investments in communications technologies, software and life sciences. Delta will often be the first institutional investor in a company, typically investing up to €2.5-3 million and taking a minority shareholding. Delta leads nearly all of its investments, bringing other leading international investors on board as the company's needs develop.

The Delta team comprises Frank Kenny, Shay Garvey, Maurice Roche and Dermot Berkery, who have extensive operating, strategic, corporate finance and investing experience.

Delta II has already completed six investments:

* Kadius Systems, a content management software company, received €2.8 million from Delta in October 2000.

* Voxsurf, a company enabling access to Internet content using multiple interfaces (HTML, voice, WAP), received an investment of €5.7 million in a round lead by Delta II with co-investments from Banc Boston and Murray Johnstone.

* Calaba, which provides search and directory technology to mobile operators, received funding of €1.5 million in September 2000 from Delta II and Add Partners.

* Artic Web, a provider of infrastructure payment solutions for electronic and mobile commerce received an investment of €3.0 million from Delta II and Vertex in January 2001.

* SivTech, a developer of data quality enhancement solutions, received a seed investment from Delta II in January 2001.

* Aircraft Management Technologies, a new company developing technology to automate and streamline various activities in the aviation industry, received funding of €1.9 million in February 2001. The research and planning for this business was developed under Delta's Entrepreneur in Residence programme, through which Delta provides pre-financing support and facilities to emerging entrepreneurs.

Delta Partners anticipates the completion of a further two investments from the new fund in the near future.

Delta Partners Limited is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland