The venture capital arm of Siemens said it will join Cardinal Venture Capital and Garage Technology Ventures in investing $3 million in wireless technology company PhoneBites. PhoneBites is developing a mobile-phone application that will allow users to interject sounds into a voice conversation. The company has already developed a headset with similar capabilities as a proof of concept of its efforts.
Wireless network optimization company Venturi Wireless Inc. announced it scored $10 million in its third round of funding from the likes of InterWest Partners, Intel Communications Fund, Novus Ventures, Horizon Ventures and Storm Ventures.
Lumus Ltd. said it closed a series B financing round led by Motorola Ventures, the venture-capital arm of Motorola Inc. Jerusalem Global Ventures also participated in the financing round. Lumus developed a light-guide optical element that enables compact personal displays in a variety of configurations, including wearable near-to-eye displays, handheld screens for mobile phones and full-performance head-up displays.
Billing software company Amdocs enjoyed a stock rise on its fiscal first-quarter results. The company’s quarterly revenues rose 3.8 percent to $469.5 million, its highest performance to date. “In our view, Amdocs has broken away from the pack, and we believe the strong visibility levels and pipeline could yield further upward earnings revisions during fiscal year 2005,” wrote Saul Eyal, a CIBC World Markets analyst.
Vodafone Group plc said it will adopt new accounting rules that could mean slightly lower financials in the near term. However, the market seemed neutral on the news, which has been expected given the new European Union standard will require about 7,000 of Europe’s largest companies to restate results. Vodafone will not be required to amortize goodwill but will be required to amortize wireless licenses on a straight-line basis. Vodafone will begin using the new standards at the start of the upcoming fiscal year.
