HgCapital funds Axoim

Investee Company – Axiom Systems Ltd (UK)

Investee Company Business Type – Develops telecommunications service delivery software

Type of Financing – Expansion Capital

Equity Providers – HgCapital

Equity Leader (Individual) – Nic Humphreys

Debt Providers – N/A

Debt Type – N/A

Debt Leader (Individual) – N/A

Equity Amount – £7.2 million

Total Deal Value – £7.2 million

Other Advisors – N/AComments – Axiom Systems, a telecommunications software developer, has received £7.2 million from HgCapital. The investment will be used to fund wider geographical expansion.

Axiom was founded in 1989 by Guy Vincent-Fernie and is based in Reading, Berkshire. The company develops a service delivery product suite, AXiOSS?, incorporating order-to-service (O2S), inventory management (IMS) and a server activation framework environment (SAFE). The software enables communications service providers to rapidly roll out new products and services such as Internet Protocol (IP), third-generation (3G) mobile and DSL or Cable TV, to their customers. It can also be used to optimise network utilisation and ensure a consistent quality of service.

This is the fifth investment by HgCapital’s team in businesses that provide network and service management solutions to communications operators.

Nic Humphries, director of HgCapital, said: “Despite current negative sentiment in the telecoms market we believe that communications remain a long-term growth Sector. Customer demand for broadband services is growing fast but, without the software to automate the process, Britain will remain in the slow-lane with potential customers frustrated by telecoms operators’ inability to deliver efficiently. Axiom’s software automates back-office processes, enabling operators to keep their customers happy, reduce processing costs and make their existing network assets work harder.”

Gareth Senior, CEO of Axiom, commented: “The telecoms industry needs to minimise customer acquisition costs, which, on average, are about six to seven times retention costs. Increasing customer profitability is part of the prescription, and it starts with a dose of improved provisioning which is where Axiom can help. Our existing European customers are our proof of precedence and further interest from carriers around the world has given cause for further finance and our global expansion.”