Picsel expands in Beijing with software deal

PICSEL, the Glasgow software group, has won its first contract in China in a move which will see the size of its operations there trebled by the end of the year.

The company is to recruit 15 staff at its recently opened Beijing base following the signing of a software licensing deal with telecoms groups ZTE Corporation and ChinaUnicom.

Picsel is negotiating a further three deals with Chinese firms which it expects to announce on 12 October at a joint press conference with the DTI to coincide with the opening of the China Hi Tech Fair in Shenzhen.

Marketing manager Zubair Salim said the company would be making a "significant investment" in its China operations in the next few months on the back of its first deal.

"Demand for our technology there is very strong and we regard it as a key market for the future," he said.

The firm opened its office in the capital earlier this year and is about to move to a larger base in the city to accommodate more staff.

Picsel Technologies is one of 20 UK companies, including microprocessor group ARM Holdings, exhibiting with the DTI at next month’s trade fair.

Picsel’s ePAGE software has been licensed to a number of telecom firms and mobile device manufacturers, including NEC, Samsung and Smart Solutions.

ePAGE enables virtually any type of file or object to be viewed and manipulated on mobile devices, personal organisers, games consoles, set top boxes or in-car systems.

The company has already won two major licensing deals this year with Japanese electronics giants. Picsel’s software will be used in NTT and Sony’s new handheld personal organisers under the deals.

The company, which also has offices in Japan and the US, is currently increasing its Scottish workforce of 70 by 20% through the recruitment of a team of new engineers.

Picsel was founded by chief executive Imran Khand in 1999 with chief scientist Majid Anwar and backed by interest free loans from friends and family.

Last year it completed its second round of funding with a consortium of Japanese investors. The 4m funding included cash from existing investors such as Softbank Ventures Europe and BancBoston Capital. In July 2001 the firm secured a 7.7m investment package in its first round of venture-led funding.

Before launching Picsel, Khand and Anwar had founded a number of small firms including the Alternative Publishing and Communications Bureau and WebScotland.

Khand had previously been running a government training scheme for young people.

Anwar, a doctor, had left the NHS to concentrate on his interest in IT.

He developed a graphic file filter application at Alternative Publishing which enabled small devices such as Palm personal organisers and mobile phones to display PC files without having the relevant software package installed.