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Finance Wales invests in global broadband benchmarking company Epitiro

22/04/08

One of the world’s leading authorities on broadband network performance is to step up its global expansion plans following investment from Finance Wales.

Cardiff-based Epitiro provides independent benchmarking of broadband networks, analysing performance such as upload and download speeds and connection times, and has clients including UK government regulator Ofcom and its New Zealand counterpart, the Commerce Commission, among its growing client list.

The investment from Finance Wales, a provider of commercial funding to SMEs in Wales, will support Epitiro as it enters its Gavin Johns and JP Curleyext phase of growth, expanding both its portfolio and the number of countries in which it operates.

Finance Wales is taking a minority stake in the company through its undisclosed investment.

Founded in 2000 by Gavin Johns and JP Curley, Epitiro has established itself as the authoritative source for comparative broadband performance data throughout the UK and New Zealand. The company’s research allows consumers, ISPs and regulators to monitor the performance and quality of broadband provisions on a national and international scale.

The company, based in Cardiff Bay, will develop markets in Europe, Asia and the United States and expand the scope of its Internet Performance Index™, a comparative performance rating of Internet Service Providers (ISPs), to include leading service providers in more than 30 countries.

Customers such as BT, Orange, Virgin, New Zealand Telecom, Ofcom, Tiscali, Telefonica O2 and others benefit from Epitiro’s extensive analysis of fixed and wireless broadband performance.

Gavin Johns, Chief Executive of Epitiro, said of the transaction: “Finance Wales embraces our entrepreneurial spirit and shares our ambition to become the global leader for independent broadband communications analysis. We are excited at the prospect of utilising their funding and business acumen to enable international growth both organically and through acquisition.”

He said the company’s growth plans, including launching triple play analysis (the combined measurement of voice, video and broadband) of both fixed and wireless broadband, would position Epitiro as the leading global provider of broadband benchmarking data.

Chris Griffiths, Investment Executive at Finance Wales, said Epitiro was well placed for significant growth.

He commented: “Information provided by Epitiro is extremely valuable in today’s global market where the internet is playing a key role in trade and commerce. We are pleased to be backing Epitiro, a Wales-based company poised to achieve global success. With an impressive client list and experienced management team we are confident that the company will continue to impress ISPs, regulators and media companies in new markets.”

Advisers on the deal for Epitiro were Berry Smith Solicitors. Kilsby Williams and Geldards acted for Finance Wales.

Notes to the editor

Epitiro

Epitiro provides broadband performance and customer experience benchmarking data to ISPs, media providers, multi-national corporations and government regulators. VoIP, video and internet service qualities are benchmarked via Epitiro’s extensive deployment of ISP-I™ edge-based agents with results available through an on-line subscription service or the semi-annual Internet Performance Index™ report. The company also provides bespoke test and benchmarking solutions with *DataLite™, VocaLite™ and ISP-I™, with its full P2P and web site analysis capabilities.

Founded in 2000, Epitiro is the chief source of intelligence for the ISPA (Internet Service Provider Association) awards, and is based in Cardiff, Wales, UK. www.epitiro.com