Milestone lands $25m

COPENHAGEN--Open platform IP video management software specialist Milestone Systems, based here, has secured roughly $25 million in growth stage funding from European venture capital firm Index Ventures, which the company will use to support new business initiatives, technology development, and possible acquisitions. The funding marks the first external investment in Milestone’s nearly 10 years of existence. Current market developments and the ensuing growth opportunities make this the right time for a cash injection, according to Milestone’s CEO, Lars Thinggaard. One new area the funding will open up for Milestone is the possibility of acquisitions, according to Thinggaard: “We will use [the funding] for minor acquisitions for a start. We’ll have the opportunity to do that now, which we didn’t have before.” Thinggaard also said the company would use the money for more product development on the technology side as well as for the build-out of sales channels. Milestone sees “great opportunities” in China, Australia, South Africa and South America, he added. The funding comes from Index Ventures’ new $635 million Index Growth I fund, which was launched earlier this year to address the market opportunity created by maturation of Europe’s start-up industry. The investment is a further endorsement of the transition from analog to IP technology. Index, which is based out of Geneva and London and has invested in such cutting edge companies as Skype and MySQL, has become increasingly interested in the security sector, especially the IP side of the industry, in recent years, according to Index’s Tony Zappalá.