March 2007 Back to Newsflow Summary

 
 
Antenova   $10 Million Investment for Growth & Expansion
 
Nomad   Value Retail chooses alphyra for MasterCard Bicester Village gift card
 
 
Antenova: $10 Million Investment for Growth & Expansion. 6 March 2007
 

Integrated antenna solutions company Antenova announced today that it has secured $10 million further funding for growth and expansion. Antenova also announced the opening of their new U.S. R&D and Support Center in Chicago, Illinois.

Greg McCray, CEO, Antenova said, “This additional investment will allow Antenova to accelerate development of our RADIONOVA® range of RF antenna modules and establish additional design centers to further penetrate and support our target markets. Antenova’s high performance antennas are designed into mobile handsets, laptop computers and other wireless devices by leading OEM companies worldwide. Our strategy is to continue to provide our OEM customers and partners with industry leading antennas and RF antenna modules and become the global supplier of choice for integrated antenna solutions.”

Antenova recently announced the GPS RADIONOVA RF Antenna Module - the world’s first GPS solution in a single package, which combines a high performance and low power receiver IC with Antenova’s high efficiency single ended internally balanced antenna. GPS RADIONOVA is the first in the range of RF antenna modules, which will be followed by GSM/CDMA, 3G, dual-mode GPS/GSM and dual-mode WiFi/GSM RF antenna modules.

McCray continued, “Our Chicago design and support center has just opened and is already supporting customers’ projects. Having local presence with our customers has been key to our success and plans are on target for opening locations in Shanghai, China next quarter, followed by facilities in Korea and Japan by the end of this year.”

McCray concluded, “Our investors’ confidence continues to underpin Antenova’s growth strategy, and we are fortunate to have the support of such experienced investors.”

Participating investors in the new investment include institutional firms Artemis, CLS, Invesco and Panmure Capital and existing shareholders Quester, Cambridge Gateway Fund and FNI Venture Capital.

For more information visit http://www.antenova.com

Nomad: Value Retail chooses alphyra for MasterCard Bicester Village gift card. 23 March 2007
 

Value Retail, the UK-based company behind Bicester Village, now one of Britain's most popular shopping destinations with over 3 ½ million domestic and international visitors a year, is introducing a new way to pay in all of its nine luxury outlet shopping villages across Europe.

alphyra, the Dublin-based specialist in pre-payments, in association with MasterCard, has developed a system for Value Retail which will begin, first, with the Bicester Village Gift Card, then, in May, ones for Kildare Village in Ireland and Maasmechelen Village in Belgium.

Cards for the other Villages in France, Spain, Italy, Germany will follow later in the year. The Bicester Village Gift Cards, which cost just £2, can be purchased from the Tourist Information Centre for any amount from £10 to £1000 and are valid immediately. They can be presented at any MasterCard access point to pay for purchases up to the amount as shown and do not attract any further administrative charges. As purchasers are required to give their name and contact details, the Gift Cards can, for a fee of £5, be replaced if lost or stolen.

The Value Retail system has been designed to take advantage of alphyra's extensive experience across 20 European countries, where national attitudes to card purchases and handling can still differ widely. Seamus Minogue, the alphyra Group's Managing Director, Financial Services said "With our international experience and network across 20 European countries, we are well placed to introduce a range of innovative gift and pre-paid cards. This is the first product we have developed with MasterCard and we look forward to working with them and Value Retail in the future."

Also commenting on this innovative scheme, John Busby, MasterCard's General Manager for U.K and Ireland, said "we are delighted to be a partner in such a high-profile pre-paid card as it presents all three of us with further opportunities in the future."

Back at Bicester Village, its Marketing Director, Anna Keddie said "As the prime provider of luxury outlet shopping in Europe, we, at Value Retail, found it very valuable to be working on this product with two such acknowledged leaders in their own fields. The result is a Gift Card which is very easy to buy, give and use and wewe are looking forward to marketing it to all our customers."

For more information visit http://www.finextra.com/fullpr.asp?id=14026 or http://www.nomadsoft.com
 
 

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