Nokia Backs Inside Contactless

This new investment round of €25m ($38m), will allow the company to accelerate its international presence and broaden its product portfolio. This year INSIDE saw the successful launch of its new MicroRead NFC platform and the delivery of 35 million MicroPass intelligent payment platforms for the US contactless payments market. "This is more than a financial investment, this is about a strategic partnership with key players who are committed to building and driving the NFC eco-system," says Remy de Tonnac, CEO of INSIDE Contactless. "Three years ago a similar strategic investment was made with Visa which brought the company to a leading position in the field of Contactless payment. We hope that this new development for INSIDE will lead to a similar success in the NFC market." Rob Trice, a Partner at Nokia Growth Partners, commented, "We are pleased to have an opportunity to invest in a global innovator like INSIDE Contactless. Their focus on payments and on the many other exciting applications of NFC chip technology is unparalleled. We look forward to collaborating with INSIDE and our partners in the industry poised for the take off of NFC." This investment round also includes existing institutional investors, including Sofinnova Partners, Vertex Management, Vertex Ventures, Siparex, GIMV, EuroUS Venture, Granite Global Ventures and Visa Ventures.