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PS:  R¨¦my de Tonnac become new CEO

 

 

 

MicroPass™ is a key component of a new contactless product developed in partnership with Smartrac Technology Ltd., for the pre-lamination processes, and the card manufacturers Giesecke & Devrient GmbH (G&D) and CPI Card Group. The new product significantly enhances the business case for contactless payments and will be available to U.S. financial institutions beginning in January 2006. 

Thanks to the exceptional performance of the MicroPass™ L4 contactless chip and a half-size antenna, the new contactless product provides issuing banks with more flexibility for card design, optimizes card-terminal read capabilities, and supports the existing 4-line embossing process. 

With MicroPass™ L4, INSIDE introduces a new payment platform that is dedicated to contactless technology, and specifically designed for the ¡°3G¡± U.S. Payment Market. This new generation of contactless chip technology provides a cost-efficient solution, while also delivering the reliability, speed, and performance that have contributed to the success of contactless payments in the U.S.

¡°We believe that our combined solution will enable banks to deploy this new technology on a large scale and will generate new revenue streams very quickly¡±, says Didier Serra, General Manager and Executive Vice President of Sales, INSIDE Contactless Americas. ¡°The partnership with INSIDE, Smartrac, CPI, and G&D combines state-of-the-art products with extensive expertise in technology integration. Each organization has a long standing track record of enabling customers to adopt new technology quickly and securely.¡±

¡°We are extremely proud of our relationship with INSIDE Contactless to develop this optimized contactless card. The operational efficiencies gained set the stage for the next generation of contactless cards, offering enhanced performance, durability and quality,¡± commented Kim Madore, Director of Emerging Technology North America, G&D.  ¡°This new smart card technology allows G&D to put the first small antenna contactless card in the U.S. Market. By migrating smart card technology to new form factors and integrating it with memory and advanced features, payment and security will be available everywhere.¡±

¡°This partnership demonstrates CPI¡¯s ability to partner with industry leaders to develop new payment solutions, incorporating the latest technology and specifications¡±, comments Robert Clarke, VP Sales & Marketing at CPI Card Group.  ¡°We are proud to partner with INSIDE and Smartrac to develop the next generation of contactless product.¡±

On December 15th, 2005 -- INSIDE Contactless announced the closing of a € 9 million ($10.6 million) financing round led by three new top tier investors: Sofinnova, Vertex Venture Capital (Israel) and Visa International. Prior round investors GIMV, Vertex Singapore and Siparex have also participated. These top names in the venture capital world bring strong financial and strategic value to INSIDE at a critical period in its growth.

 ¡°This company has an amazing patent portfolio and know-how in two key markets: payment and Near Field Communication,¡± Sofinnova¡¯s managing partner Jean Schmitt. ¡°The market for contactless payment cards is about to explode. Most US banks have already announced their intention to adopt this new technology and are preparing massive deployments starting end 2005. INSIDE has by far the technology that offers the best user experience for card holders,¡± said Jean Schmitt. ¡°Japan is already including NFC chips in consumer devices such as mobile telephones for contactless payment, and this trend is set to spread to other countries. INSIDE¡¯s products are timely, best of breed and address very large markets. We believe that this company will become a very important player.¡±

¡°As a leading payments innovator, Visa International supports companies that are at the cutting edge of emerging technologies, especially those that are strategically significant to Visa member financial institutions and the payments industry in general,¡± said Patrick Gauthier, senior vice president, Innovation, Visa International. ¡°INSIDE Contactless has been a pioneer in the contactless market, with a track record of developing ground-breaking solutions. Visa¡¯s leadership in innovation, together with INSIDE¡¯s rich expertise, will support the efforts of Visa member banks and merchants to roll out new consumer products.¡±

"Our follow-on investment further confirms the confidence we have in INSIDE Contactless as a leading provider of the most efficient contactless solutions,¡± stated INSIDE¡¯s Chairman of the Board, Remy De Tonnac of Vertex Venture Capital. ¡°The North American payments market is leading the way for massive deployment of contactless chip technologies, and I expect INSIDE Contactless to play a pivotal role.¡±

INSIDE intends to use these funds for the expansion of its business in the key growth markets for contactless payments and mobile NFC (near field communication). INSIDE¡¯s dedicated microcontroller chip (MicroPass™)is based on a proprietary 16-bit RISC architecture processor which provides more computing power to deliver complex and secure applications with extremely fast transaction time and optimized reading distance, ensuring the best of class card holder experience. R&D investments will be further increased for the creation of a whole family of products for these targeted markets, facilitating the company¡¯s ability to position itself as a leader in these areas. 

Additionally, INSIDE aims to use the funds to further strengthen the management team by hiring executives who will help expand the business in a global environment. 

"This new investment round gives INSIDE financial means to succeed in the Payment and NFC markets,¡± commented Jacek Kowalski, INSIDE¡¯s Founder, President and CEO.  ¡°A few years ago we took the challenge to develop a dedicated and optimized microprocessor architecture and our product performance demonstrates that we have taken the right decision. This new microprocessor chip and our advance in NFC technology aim to speed up market development and enable the company to take a market leading position. The quality of investors supporting INSIDE and Visa International¡¯s funding represents key success factor for INSIDE in this challenging market.¡±

On May 4th, 2006 ¨C Esmertec™ (SWX: ESMN), a leading provider of world-class software solutions and services for the telecommunication, interactive multimedia, and consumer electronics markets, INSIDE Contactless (INSIDE), a leading fabless semiconductor provider, and Trusted Logic (TL), a leading provider of secure open software for embedded systems, today announced that they are collaborating to develop and deliver near field communications (NFC) solutions to mobile devices and chipset manufacturers.

Contactless technology leverages electromagnetic waves to automatically identify people and objects. On a global scale, Contactless chips are gaining significant momentum in mobile devices, payment cards, access control, identity and security applications, mass transit and electronic tagging solutions. The distinct advantages of contactless chips include the speed of processing and approvals, as well as the reduced maintenance costs typically associated with mechanical systems. 

Combining INSIDE¡¯s NFC-enabled chipsets with Esmertec¡¯s Java software and TL¡¯s secure middleware will enable the companies to deliver a complete contactless solution for mobile devices.  The companies also announced today that they will jointly promote the fully integrated solution to their combined customer base.

 ¡°Contactless chips in mobile handsets for payment and identification are a natural next-step, since handsets are personal items that users carry everywhere with them,¡± says Alain Blancquart, Chairman and CEO of Esmertec. ¡°Combining our companies¡¯ hardware, software and middleware expertise will open up new opportunities in a wide range of applications that can benefit from such contactless solutions.¡±

¡°The market for contactless solutions in mobile phones and PDAs is poised for exponential growth, and the partnership we¡¯ve announced today will help accelerate the development and delivery of numerous applications that will intuitively enable users to access content and services by simply touching smart objects,¡± says Remy de Tonnac, CEO of INSIDE.  ¡°We¡¯re looking forward to working with Esmertec and Trusted Logic to capitalize on this enormous market opportunity.¡±   

Dominique Bolignano, Trusted Logic CEO, comments, "NFC is poised to become a key transaction enabler and as such will be the converging point of a lot of critical information. Coupled with Esmertec's J2ME framework and INSIDE universal chipset, Trusted Logic security middleware will give applications the secure footing they really need".

On September 5^th 2006 ¨C INSIDE Contactless announced that it has closed a new funding round of $25 million led by Granite Global Ventures (GGV). The other new investor for this round was EuroUs Venture. Current investors who contributed to half of the total amount of this round led by Sofinnova Partners, now the largest shareholder, include Vertex Venture Capital, Vertex Management, GIMV, and Siparex Ventures.

This funding will allow INSIDE Contactless to further expand its sales and marketing presence in Asia and the United States. It will also reinforce INSIDE¡¯s research and development efforts, and accelerate new product introduction across the company¡¯s two major business lines in Payment and NFC (Near Field Communication).

¡°We are excited to invest in the leading technology provider for NFC and contactless payments. These markets are poised to take off and see very significant opportunities in Asia for INSIDE going forward, and we will support the company with our presence and strong connexions in the region¡±, comments Mr Lee Kheng Nam, Venture Partner from Granite Global Ventures.

Jean Schmitt, Managing Partner at Sofinnova Partners states: ¡°INSIDE has what it takes to succeed, financial strengths, management talent, and a booming market, all the components to build end to end solutions, strong IP, strong syndicate of supportive investors. We expect the company to lead the explosion of contactless applications.¡±

¡°This latest round of funding with top names of the Venture Capital industry further validate INSIDE¡¯s vision, technology, and ability to capitalize on the market opportunities that we¡¯ve  been pioneering  in the last few years,¡± said Remy de Tonnac, CEO of INSIDE Contactless.  ¡°The contactless payment and NFC markets are on the verge of exponential growth, and today¡¯s funding will allow INSIDE to further reinforce its leadership.¡±  

"We have tested INSIDE¡¯s technology and have been impressed by the company¡¯s undeniable expertise¡± said Laurent Jullien, Director of Contactless and Payment Services from Bouygues Telecom. ¡°We believe that INSIDE¡¯s NFC chipset is likely to become a major component in the evolution of mobile phones and mobile services. In addition, its financial backing from major venture capital players, makes it even more convincing."

In 2005, INSIDE raised $10.6 million from Sofinnova, Vertex Venture Capital, GIMV, Siparex Ventures, and Visa International. The funding helped business expansion into key growth markets for contactless and mobile Near Field Communication (NFC).

INSIDE¡¯s MicroPass™, microprocessor-based contactless chip platform, enables consumers to make purchases by simply waving their contactless credit and debit cards past a secure reader.  INSIDE¡¯s chipsets require low power and deliver optimum read distance - to facilitate a fast transaction speed and a consistent user experience.  This technology supports all major global RF standards and is available for use in a variety of card, and other form factors.   

INSIDE¡¯s Near Field Communication (NFC)-based technology enables mobile devices to behave as both readers, and cards.  Once fully deployed, this technology will enable consumers to complete numerous ¡°contactless¡± transactions - such as: paying for purchases; redeeming coupons; obtaining receipts; buying e-tickets; passing through gates in transit systems; gaining access to secure buildings; or logging onto computers ¨C simply by waiving their mobile phones past a secure reader.    

INSIDE¡¯s board members include Alex Brabers from GIMV, Jean Schmitt from Sofinnova Partners, Robert Genieser from Vertex Venture Capital, Lee Kheng Nam from Granite Global Venture (GGV) as well as GGV¡¯s Managing Director Scott Bonham as a board observer and Patrick Jones as an independent Director.