GO-SIM dials up venture capital deal
YORKSHIRE firm GO-SIM, which provides pre-paid global SIM cards for mobile phones, has received a further £250,000 investment from the Yorkshire and Humber Equity Fund (YHEF).
The investment follows the regional venture capital fund’s initial investment in York-based GO-SIM last August.
Since the original investment by YHEF, which is managed by YFM Venture Finance, GO-SIM has increased staff numbers, developed new voice and messaging products and increased its customer base by 214% with clients including airport and airlines supplier, Alpha Retail, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, British Red Cross, Visa International and US-based retailer, Best Buy.
Chris Fitzsimmons, YHEF investment manager, said: “Since our original investment, we have been impressed by GO-SIM’s progress. Having recently secured a key route to market with one of Europe’s leading travel companies, GO-SIM is well placed to exploit the market opportunity for travellers to make significant savings on calls from abroad.”
David Agar, chief executive of GO-SIM commented: “Having YHEF onboard has enabled us to become one of the leading providers of smart, low-cost international mobile solutions. We’ve made a successful push into the US outbound traveller market, and are now looking for distribution into Asia. With an exciting product development road map ahead of us, the future is very interesting indeed.”
The company plans to role out partnerships with key strategic partners in the travel industry across the world.
Customers face expensive charges when using mobile phones outside the UK due to costly roaming charges. The GO-SIM Global SIM works in more than 140 countries and unlike standard UK network providers, incoming calls and texts are free in many countries, enabling travellers to save up to 85% on the bill that would normally await them.
To use GO-SIM, customers simply swap their existing SIM card with the GO-SIM Global SIM card each time they travel abroad.
YHEF is a £25 million Regional Venture Capital Fund which will invest in fast growing SMEs across the Yorkshire and Humber region, managed by YFM Venture Finance.
Lawyers for YFM Group were Keeble Hawson and Hempsons for GO-SIM.
