Comnitel, a Cork-based software firm, has merged with the US firm WatchMark, in the latest phase of consolidation in the Irish technology industry.
The company, which develops products for telecoms firms and employs about 75 staff, said yesterday it would merge with WatchMark to strengthen its position in the marketplace.
WatchMark, a private US-based software company, employs about 200 staff and has headquarters in Seattle. The new company will be called WatchMark-Comnitel and will seek to expand its existing relationships with wireless firms such as Cingular Wireless, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless.
Comnitel, which has raised more than €30 million in venture capital funding since it was founded in the late 1990s, would not disclose the financial details of the merger process. But it is understood the two firms have agreed to divide the equity in the new firm with the 10 institutional investors in both companies. The six big investors in WatchMark are likely to get most of the equity in the new firm.
The big institutional investors in Comnitel include UK-based HgCapital, German-based Hamburgische Landesbank and US-based SAIC Venture Capital Corporation. Enterprise Ireland was also a small shareholder in Comnitel, holding about 3 per cent of the company.
