Vækstfonden invests DKK 10 mio...Entrepreneur Morten Brørup’s SmartShare Bandwidth Manager prevents slow computer responses and broken telephone calls when shared internet connections are subject to greater demands than they can cope with. Until now, the company’s focus has been on Danish housing associations; a DKK 10 mio capital injection from Danish state investment fund Vækstfonden will help SmartShare Systems introduce the patented invention to companies in Scandinavia, Germany and USA.
A DKK 10 mio investment from Vækstfonden will help SmartShare Systems to sell its bandwidth distributor to companies in Denmark and the rest of Scandinavia as well as Germany and USA.
First come first served. This is the basis on which the majority of shared internet connections distribute bandwidth amongst users. If a user is in the process of downloading large image files or documents they can momentarily occupy the entire connection leaving other users with no bandwidth.
This doesn’t matter when an internet connection is only used for surfing or sending mails, as a few fractions of a second’s waiting time passes un-noticed. When internet connections are used for telephone calls or to access applications online via a remote server, as is more and more often the case, these brief interruptions can be of critical importance.
M.Sc. in Engineering Morten Brørup solved the problem a few years ago. He developed and patented a technique for distributing bandwidth according to an intelligent system whereby everybody sharing a joint internet connection can be online simultaneously, and no-one can occupy the connection’s entire bandwidth. He won Venture Cup’s best business idea award in 2005, and founded SmartShare Systems in 2006. Since then he has benefited from several capital injections from research institute CAT as well as receiving money from a group of private investors last year.
So far investment has totalled DKK 4.7 mio. With Vækstfonden’s additional investment of DKK 10 mio, a bright future lies in wait for the Bandwidth Manager amongst small and medium-sized companies.
”Company management has shown that they can deliver the goods. The technology is protected, the market is ripe and the company has a clear strategy for accessing new markets. That’s why we have the confidence to make an investment of this magnitude,” says Vækstfonden VP Ulrik Jørring. He joins SmartShare System’s board together with former Director of Cisco Denmark, Mogens Bransholm, currently CEO of Conscia A/S.
SmartShare Systems’ market is growing. In Denmark alone there are about 90,000 workplaces with between 5 and 50 employees. Increasing numbers of companies are moving from a model where they install programs themselves to outsourcing them using Software as a Service solutions (SaaS) accessing applications via the internet. The market for SaaS solutions is growing at a rate of 20% per year. According to market analysis company Gartner, within a few years a quarter of all new software solutions will take the SaaS route. They will all require an internet connection that functions without queues or bottlenecks.
”We now have extra capital to establish a presence in other countries via dealerships, and an even more experienced board to help us manage the process of taking our product into international markets,” says Michel Thorsen, who took on the position as CEO at SmartShare Systems A/S last year.
