Synchronica up on acquisition, funding

Synchronica said it will fork over roughly $5 million in new shares to acquire fellow mobile e-mail provider AxisMobile.
A U.K.-based firm that provides over-the-air firmware update technology based on open industry standards, Synchronica targets business users and “prosumers” with mobile push e-mail and synchronization solutions. AxisMobile focuses on the lower end of the mobile e-mail market with gateways that deliver e-mail as SMS or MMS messages as well as a client-less solution for wireless browser access.
Synchronica, which last year inked a deal to provide software to Sun Microsystems Inc., hopes to integrate AxisMobile’s technology as it expands its footprint in emerging markets such as Eastern Europe and Russia. The company also announced a new $10 million round of funding, vowing to use the cash to grow its business in Africa, China, Latin America and the Middle East.
“There are real synergies between Synchronica’s products and target markets and our own, so it makes great commercial sense to combine forces,” said AxisMobile CEO Shai Schiller. “Both companies are committed to open standards and to developing products that work on even the most basic of handsets – a must given that the market for mass-market mobile e-mail is being fueled by demand from the developing world. We are confident that the combined might of our two companies will prove to be greater than the sum of its parts.”