By Bill Clifford, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 7:22 AM ET Sep 4, 2000 NewsWatch
Latest headlines
Broadvision is broadening its horizons to the wonderful world of Japanese wireless. The U.S. provider of software for companies wanting to build customized e-commerce Web sites is teaming up with venture capitalists H&Q Asia Pacific, trading house Itochu and other Japanese partners in a new wireless venture, according to people familiar with the deal.
The companies will announce details Tuesday morning in Tokyo, and Broadvision will host a Tuesday conference call in the U.S. at 1 p.m. Eastern time.
Market rumors of the imminent venture boosted Broadvision (BVSN: news, msgs) by more than 13 percent on Friday in New York, to $39.06 a share. The stock rose further, to $40.44, in after-hours trading. See related story.
Itochu (ITOCY: news, msgs), like many large Japanese import-export houses, has recently set up an information-technology venture capital company. Itochu group firms and a handful of Japanese financial institutions plan to invest in 20 to 30 promising start-ups over the next three years, and so far they've pooled some 8.3 billion yen ($78 million). It wasn't immediately clear how much initial capital the wireless venture with Broadvision and H&Q Asia Pacific would get.
Itochu Techno-Science will also join in the venture. It offers IT systems solutions for companies in virtually every market segment - finance, communications, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, transportation and retail. Earlier this month Itochu Techno-Science entered a partnership with Flexfirm Inc. in the sale of software that integrates the language specifications for delivering Internet content over cellular phones.
A third Japanese company, Access, licenses embedded browser software for non-PC devices - including the Internet gateway for NTT DoCoMo's I-mode cellular phones. More than 10 million Japanese have subscribed to I-mode services since their launch in February 1999.
H&Q Asia Pacific, headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif., plans to set up several holding companies in Japan to invest in a range of industries. One is already a going concern: @JapanMedia, focused on game software and music, announced last week it would partner with Viacom's (VIA: news, msgs) MTV Networks to bring back MTV Japan to local audiences, with a relaunch of the 24-hour music television channel next January.
Other H&Q holding companies at various stages of being on the drawing board are @JapanB2B and @JapanWireless. As of now, there's no connection between the wireless group and the venture with Broadvision in Japan; "they're completely separate," an H&Q Asia Pacific staffer told CBS.MarketWatch.com
