MMC sets sights on mobile investments

Private equity house eyes up mobile enterprise applications arena

Innovate to accumulate: The enterprise mobile market has lagged behind the consumer space in terms of innovation, according to MMC

Technology specialist private equity house MMC Ventures has picked out mobility and video as investment hotspots for the coming year.

MMC’s portfolio includes videoconferencing services provider VC-Net, online retail group e-trader and Consilium Technologies, developer of the public sector-focused TotalMobile applications platform.

MMC investment manager Jon Coker claimed the firm is currently weighing up a handful of further tech opportunities.

“We are looking pretty hard at mobile enterprise applications,” he said.

“There are huge waves of innovation in the consumer mobile market. But the enterprise market is lagging and this presents a much better opportunity.”

VC-Net has been on a growth spurt of late, as business interest in video services grows.

“We have seen a large amount of interest coming from larger corporates,” said Coker.

He added that, while valuations may have dropped to more realistic levels during the downturn, investment in technology had never entirely dried up.

“There remained a core of venture capitalists in the UK that were willing to invest,” he said.