Publication: Budapest Business Journal
Provider: New World Publishing
Date: September 26, 2005

Primus invests in software firm

Primus Capital Partners LLC, the U.S.-based venture capital fund with a focus on Central Europe, announced last week it is investing in leading Hungarian enterprise portal software (EPS) maker Sense/Net Kft. As its fourth investment in Hungary, Primus acquired a minority stake in Sense/Net, a company with revenues last year close to $1 million.

The software developer will use the funding to develop and expand its integrated internet, intranet and extranet portal software solutions, as well as for corporate expansion.

"Sense/Net is a fast-growing company, profitable for eight years, with a successful product and a significant client base in both the public and private sectors here in Hungary, and with a competitive technology on the international market as well," commented Zoltán Bruckner, managing director of Primus Capital Partners.

"After the dot-com era, in which 'solutions' appeared one after the other without the proper strategic or technological planning and market rationale, the IT market has stabilized," said Sándor Kiss, CEO of Sense/Net.

Confirming Hungarian and international trends observed in the 2004 portal market, U.S. technology research and consultancy firm IDC predicts that Sense/Net's vision of a corporate portal solution, formed back in 2000, is right on target.

Today, the integrated internet, intranet and extranet portal concept is increasingly popular among Hungarian companies, as illustrated by Sense/Net's growing client base, Kiss said.

"Sense/Net will use the funding to strengthen its already strong position on the corporate portal market," said Tamás Bíró, the firm's marketing director.

Sense/Net began operations in 1995 as one of Hungary's pioneers in internet-based corporate solutions. It initially targeted larger companies and institutions, with integrated internet, intranet and extranet portal software that allows rapid development of portals to gather content, information, applications and processes from across the enterprise into a single point of access.

The Sense/Net Portal Engine is also made available to larger system integrator firms as a practical development tool, under a licensed reseller arrangement. Sense/Net has worked for years with many Hungarian and international companies in the framework of reseller contracts. Its main clients in the public sector include the Budapest Mayor's Office, the National Bank of Hungary (MNB) and the Prime Minister's Office. In the private sector, its clients include national power grid operator MVM Rt, Budapest Gasworks Rt, and T-Kábel (the cable television services arm of Magyar Telekom Rt).

Registered in the state of Delaware, Primus Capital Partners is currently also a shareholder in three other Hungarian firms: VideoCast Kft, a developer of digital security camera systems; Mirai Interactive Kft, an interactive marketing and media firm; and Nebotrade Kft, a microbiological cultures and DNA diagnostics specialist.

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