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Software engineers with wireless Internet company Air2Web Inc. spent the past two years and nearly $35 million in venture funding - designing software that allows users to pay bills, access their bank accounts and even buy cans of Coke using cell phones or BlackBerry pagers.
The Atlanta start-up just netted another $25 million in venture funding to take the business into profitability and, founders hope, keep the company in the running for bigdollar contracts with clients like United Parcel Service Inc. and hotel chain Holiday Inn Hotels Inc.
"Up until now, we spent a bunch of money on developing the product and perfecting our platform," said Sanjoy Malik, the CEO of Air2Web who co-founded the company in mid-1999 with fellow entrepreneur Jay Chaudhry.
"Economics and efficiency will open new markets for us in the very near future. I think it's just an evolutionary thing, and we're moving more in that direction every day," Malik said.
This third round of financing, led by the Montreal-based fund CDP Sofinov, brings Air2Web's lifetime total to roughly $60 million. Other investors include BellSouth Corp. (NYSE: BLS), VeriSign Inc. (Nasdaq: VRSN), the investment arm of Nextel Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: NXTL and previous investors Mitsubishi Corp. and Chaudhry himself.
Sophie Forest, who is a partner at CDP Sofinov, first came across Air2Web about a year ago when the company's efforts were mentioned in a report prepared by Merrill Lynch Co.
CDP Sofinov partners approached Malik and Chaudbry this summer and by early August signed a term sheet to fund the 2year-old company.
"What we liked most about them is that they can serve many types of industries," Forest said, referring to the...