Korean automotive technology firm invests in Connected Car leader
Tantalum Corporation (“Tantalum”) today announces a significant investment by Korean automotive technology company Handysoft, part of the Dasan group. Further funding is also coming from Disruptive Capital, a long-standing investor in Tantalum.
Steve Lee, Chair of the Board at Handysoft, joins the Board at Tantalum. The appointment follows a period of rapid expansion for Tantalum, which has made seven new senior hires in 2017 as it strengthens its global market-leading position in the rapidly developing Connected Car sector.
Coming hot on the heels of the recognition by the UK government of its unique air.car solution to help curb emissions, the investment by the Handy.Car subsidiary of Handysoft, part of the Dasan group, will help develop Tantalum’s position as the leading provider of Connected Car technology services, including insurance, crash detection, roadside assistance, parking and accident management. Tantalum’s end-to-end ecosystem of services is underpinned by a proprietary global billing and payment platform: Pay.Car. Security is paramount in all of Tantalum’s applications.
The investment will help to drive Tantalum’s unique air.car “pay as you pollute” solution, which is attracting increasing attention as governments and local authorities worldwide seek to battle rising air pollution. Last week Tantalum received an Innovate UK grant to perfect its remote monitoring of NOx; and announced a competition for megacities worldwide to set up the world’s first real time emissions-based road user charging scheme.
The news enhances the reputation of Tantalum further, following the firm’s listing in the Sunday Times Hiscox Tech Track 100 for a second year running at number 14, as well as the receipt of GP Bullhound’s Connect Award for revenue growth over the past three years.
Ian Drew, Chairman of Tantalum, commented:
“We welcome Steve Lee to the Tantalum board. Working with handy.car, we have already started a trial in Vietnam, as a testbed for the vast Asian market.”
Steve Lee, Chair of the Board of Directors at HandySoft, commented:
“I am delighted to be joining the Tantalum board. Tantalum is uniquely positioned at the junction between technology, the automotive space and SaaS with solutions such as Pay.Car and the air.car “Pay as you Pollute” technology; and an ecosystem of partners including Samsung, AT&T and SAP. I am confident that, with Handysoft’s help, notably in the Asian market, Tantalum will play a leading role in the transformation of the automotive market. We look forward to helping them develop globally over the coming years.”
For further information please contact:
Equus Group
Sam Barton / James Culverhouse
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