1st round for CTS

French company CRIL Telecom Software (CTS) has secured first round funding of E11 million. SOFTBANK Europe Ventures led the financing with Sofinnova Partners also participating. CTS provides network planning, deployment and management software solutions for telecom operators and service providers.

General partner at Sofinova, Franck Delorme, said: “CTS has all the characteristics we look for when financing a start-up: it has a very active and experienced management team; it’s activity is focused on intelligent software solutions, which will undoubtedly and increasingly be needed by modern telecom operators.”

The capital will be used to finance the company’s international expansion. CTS will also invest the money in developing new software and functionalities to enable its clients to increase returns on infrastructure and operating investment. CTS has customers in Europe, Asia and Latin America. They include regulatory and national bodies and network operators such as France Telecom Mobile, TeleDenmark, Skybernet, Telcel, STNA (the French aviation agency), the French ministry of interior and the European Commission.

CTS provides management software for wireless and fixed telecom operators which enables them to plan and deploy networks over multiple wireless and wireline access technologies (GSM, UMTS, fiber, ADSL and wireless local loop). CTS gives operators and service providers the technical and financial understanding needed to capitalise on existing network resources. This leads to cost savings, increased revenues and reduced time to market with new services.

Patrick Samama, chairman and CEO of CTS, said: “Our platform provides our customers with a unique, comprehensive and unified view of their networks and services from planning through deployment and management.

Our clients are looking for experts to provide them with innovative and pragmatic applications. But to do that, you need to have global investment partners like the ones we have selected.”

Last year CTS was spun out of Paris-based engineering firm, CRIL Technology Group, which focuses on advanced technologies, computer science and electronic systems. The group remains a minority shareholder in CTS and another spin-off, San Jose-based Saqqara Systems.