FMS, the Dublin-based company specialising in banking and insurance software, is about to raise $15 million through its latest round of financing.
The company is in the final stages of due diligence with a number of institutional investors, and it expects to close the deal by early October. It is understood the majority of the funding will come from a major US household name in the capital banking sector. The remainder is likely to be raised through a combination of US, EU and Far East investors.
Sources close to the deal have said the funding will value FMS at between $40 million and $50 million, giving the latest investors around a 33 per cent stake in the company. FMS, which now employs 70 people, will use the additional funding to expand its presence in the US market, which it is targeting with its banking and insurance software.
Mr Jim Maher, FMS chief executive, said the company will be loss making for the next two years. Revenues have seen a recent downturn because of a shift in FMS's transactional model from being license based to operating on a per use basis. It had previously projected revenues this year of between $6 million and $7 million (€5.3 million and €6.2 million).
FMS has been earmarked in the past as a candidate for stock market flotation. However Mr Maher says: "We have enough funding for the next two years. After that we might seek access to capital markets, which would involve sitting down to take a look at an IPO or dual listing in around 12 months time."
In March this year, FMS raised $2.5 million through an Irish fund administrator. The same investors are believed to be involved on a small scale in the latest financing round.
Recently FMS co-founder, Mr Michael Franklin, moved from his position within the company as operations director to the new role of technology and innovation director. Mr Maher says he now works to a "blue skies brief" which involves assessing where the industry is going and feeding this information back into FMS.
