'Holy Grail' of funding found by UK mobile firm Intuwave

UK mobile phone software firm Intuwave has secured a £2.8m third round of funding from its existing group of investors, which includes London-based VC giants 3i.

The funding follows a second round in October 2001 when the company raised £6.9m and it is confident that this influx of cash will see it through to profitability.

Tim Martin, CFO of Intuwave, said: "This money is in line with our budget projections. It's not about needing money to survive or anything like that, it's about using this money to grow the business and achieve our goals."

Intuwave core activity is the development of smartphone software - an exciting opportunity for growth which clearly appeals to its investors.

Martin added: "We have fast-developing revenues and we've had our first profitable month and now this investment will enable us to take this on and build the business."

While Martin believes VCs are looking to get involved in tech investment once more, he admits the bad experiences of the dot-com downturn have made them more wary.

"We were pleased that this came about and we're pleased it has come from our existing investors. It shows they have faith in what we are doing and they support it. Investors have learned from what we saw a few years ago when you could come up with a business plan in the morning and secure funding by lunch time - they are now only looking for companies with solid business plans with a clear idea of breakeven and profitability."

And there is no rush to realise a return on the investment. In terms of an exit - the endgame for any investor - Martin believes Intuwave's backers are looking at the company as a medium-, rather than short-term proposition. "There isn't any pressure," he added.