4RF Receives Significant Investment to Accelerate Growth
WELLINGTON, New Zealand and TEL AVIV, Israel, July 31, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --
- Investment from Fortissimo Capital supports next phase of company's product development and sales expansion
4RF Limited, the developer of high performance radio communications equipment for critical infrastructure applications, announces investment from leading private equity fund Fortissimo Capital. As a result 4RF will expand its workforce and accelerate the company's product development and sales globally.
4RF, headquartered in Wellington, New Zealand, develops and manufactures highly robust radio communications equipment for utility, public safety and oil and gas applications. With this funding, the company's customers in more than 130 countries around the world will benefit from a greatly accelerated company Growth Plan, with an expanded product range and faster time to market.
Ian Troughton, CEO of 4RF Limited, comments: "We are seeing a huge demand for our products, and in the last year our sales have increased by nearly 60%. We are absolutely thrilled that a leading growth investor in the world's second largest venture capital market, and indeed the recognised home of wireless technology, has chosen to invest in 4RF. This investment by Fortissimo marks the end of a process that we started almost a year ago. Fortissimo is an ideal partner for 4RF as they share our vision for growth. This is great news for our customers - with Fortissimo we will be able to accelerate our delivery of new products to the market."
4RF is accelerating its growth in three ways:
- Speeding up the development and launch of next generation products through a doubling of its R&D team
- Adding new variants to the existing product range to address new geographies
- Growing sales, marketing and systems engineering to support new business
4RF's radio communications products are renowned throughout the world for their robustness and reliability, RF (radio frequency) performance and ease of use through their built in, intuitive software management application. The company's product portfolio comprises a point-to-point wireless microwave link, the Aprisa XE, and a point-to-multipoint SCADA / telemetry radio for utility applications, the Aprisa SR.
Yuval Cohen, Founding and Managing Partner of Fortissimo Capital, comments: "Our speciality is investing in companies that are at an inflection point: with a solid customer base, proven sales of world leading technology and a requirement for growth capital to further enhance operations. We invest in world-class companies and we are delighted to have found in 4RF a company that has developed a family of world-class wireless products that can address a large and growing global smart grid market. 4RF has a great management team, products of a supremely high standard and blue chip customers throughout the world. We have huge growth expectations for 4RF and we look forward to working closely with the team over the coming years."
About Fortissimo Capital
Fortissimo Capital, headquartered in Israel, is a group of private equity funds with nearly US$500m under management that invests in global technology companies that require capital to expand their business. Fortissimo is a long term investor and seeks to partner with management to facilitate growth and maximize value. Fortissimo is backed by leading financial institutions including insurance companies, banks and pension funds.
Fortissimo has successfully exited several of its portfolio companies, including selling NUR Macroprinters (Nasdaq: NURM) to HP (NYSE: HPQ) for $123 million, selling Cadent to Align Technologies (Nasdaq: ALGN) for $190 million, selling AOD Software to a USA private equity firm, and the IPO of SodaStream (Nasdaq: SODA) and selling its holdings at a valuation of $800 million. The partners in the fund are: Yuval Cohen (founding and managing partner), Eli Blatt, Shmoulik Barashi, Marc Lesnick, Yochai Hacohen and Yoav Hineman.
Please visit http://www.ffcapital.com for more information about Fortissimo Capital.
About 4RF Limited
Operating in more than 130 countries, 4RF provides radio communications equipment for critical infrastructure applications. Customers include utilities, oil and gas companies, transport companies, telecommunications operators, international aid organisations and public safety organisations.
4RF has been active in the public safety and utility communications markets since the company was established, and the company has blue chip customers around the world in both these markets. With the current large global spending in these markets, 4RF is well placed to continue offering its world-leading radio solutions for these critical infrastructure applications. The smart grid market alone is a multi-billion dollar industry, with communications being a key area of investment and growth over the next five years and beyond.
Key points:
- Established in 1998, with first product sales of Aprisa product family in 2001
- Owns all intellectual property, with in-house research and development team
- Develops and manufactures market-leading radio communications products, with unbeatable RF performance, robustness and reliability
- Blue chip customers in over 130 countries, including many of the world's largest utilities, oil and gas companies, telecommunications operators and public safety organisations
- Profitable from 2006 until the financial crisis. Strong growth and rebound in profitability in year ended 31 March 2012 with highest annual sales orders - a year on year increase of nearly 60%
- Fortissimo's investment supports a greatly accelerated company Growth Plan, with an expanded product range and faster time to market for large and growing critical infrastructure market
Please visit http://www.4rf.com for more information about 4RF Limited.
Photographs of key personnel and product are available: please contact media@4rf.com
For further information please contact:
4RF Limited
Ian Troughton, CEO,
ian.troughton@4rf.com,
+64-4-499-6000
Fortissimo Capital
info@ffcapital.com
+972-3-915-7400
Eisenberg - Eliash Investor relations & Public relations
Amir Eisenberg
amir@pr-ir.co.il
+972-52-8260285
Sara Selcer
sara@pr-ir.co.il
+972-52-4448262
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