Our buddies at NAVX just announced their first round of funding. NAVX is lead by Jean Cherbonnier and Florent Boutellier, who were also co-founders of K-Mobile (Kiwee), a Ventech portfolio company that was sold to American Greetings Interactive in 2004.
For those of you not in the know, NAVX is a French provider of GPS content and services -- that is, it allows you to personalize your GPS by downloading content directly from their site: positions of speed traps, trouble spots/accidents, vocal instructions, tourist information, and the famous GaultMillau restaurant guide are all available. Navx also develops a community platform connecting the GPS to Internet, allowing one to see geospatial information. Check out their blog as well.
It's and interesting market: already, 3 million French use GPS, and it is estimated that, by 2010, 70 million European customers will be equipped with GPS. The growth is largely driven by the booming sales of personal navigation devices (PNDs) and will be accelerated by the ramp-up of GPS-equipped mobile phones in 2007.
The money, from Innoven Partenaires, will be used to accelerate development in France and to expand to Germany, Italy, Spain, Benelux and the United Kingdom.
Full disclosure: NAVX is a BPR client.
