Jinny Software, a Dublin-based mobile phone software solutions provider, is seeking to raise between $8 million (€7.31 million) and $10 million in second round financing to fund additional R&D and international expansion. The company, which was founded in June 1999, has appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers to organise the financing, and started its roadshow late last month.
The funding will be used to open sales offices in a range of international markets, fund R&D and grow employment in the Republic.
Mr Roy Zakka, the Lebanese-born US citizen who is founder and chief executive of Jinny Software, said the company was looking at establishing offices in Britain, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
"We need to ramp up the number of staff and the amount of sales and distribution venues we have to promote our products," he said.
Jinny Software's products include software infrastructure equipment, which enables mobile operators to access the Internet and information technology companies to tap into the wireless world. A product the company is implementing with AIB is a wireless application protocol (WAP) gateway, incorporating a security layer from Baltimore Technologies to offer secure mobile banking.
The company is currently considering several potential sites to establish a new headquarters in Dublin, having outgrown its offices in Clonskeagh.
A few months ago, it employed just 15 people, but this has increased to about 40 in recent weeks. Mr Zakka said he expected the company to employ more than 100 people by May 2001.
Several prominent technology personnel in the Republic have joined the company recently, including Mr Ciaran Carey, who joined from Eircell where he held the position of head of ecommerce.
Jinny Software has expanded rapidly since securing an investment of some $3.5 million in seed capital from an undisclosed private investor in February. It has clinched a number of contracts in recent months, with clients including Eircell, AIB and France Telecom Lebanon.
And in March, the company won a $1.1 million deal with Fastlink, Jordan's only GSM mobile phone provider, to provide software that enables customers to access e-mail and the Internet from their mobile handsets.
Mr Zakka said the company had just completed a significantly larger contract than the one with Fastlink, but he was not in a position to reveal the details yet.
"Our software is fully compatible with emerging mobile communications technologies such as General Packet Radio Services (GPRS), and we foresee huge growth in the sector," he added.
Mr Zakka said the company had been approached by a number of potential investors since the roadshow started and would have no difficulty raising funds.
