Altamedius taken over by US company Qpass

SOFTWARE company Altamedius, formerly called Artic Web, has been acquired by American company Qpass for an undisclosed sum.

Altamedius develops software to process electronic payments and is based in Dublin. The company employs about 25 people.

Altamedius was ranked fourth in the Deloitte & Touche Technology Fast 50 programme for the second year running in 2003 with its revenues growing more than 900%.

According to the last set of accounts filed for Altamedius, which are for 2001, the company had turnover of €722,722 and total assets of €894,010. It also has retained losses of more than €3.4 million.

Its chief backers include Vertex Management; global venture capital firm Singapore Technologies Group, and Delta Partners, a Dublin-based venture capital firm.

It has raised about €4 million from investors since the firm was set up in 1999.

It counts Vodafone, Bank of Ireland and European bank HVB among its customers.

In a statement, Qpass chief executive Chase Franklin said the acquisition was part of the firm’s plan to move into the European market.