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BOW Group Closes Series B Funding
[November 14, 2017]

BOW Group Closes Series B Funding


The BOW Group announces today that it has closed its series B funding, led by PM Equity Partner (PMEP) and NextStage, the investment company listed on the Euronext Paris regulated exchange, NextStage, also participated in the financing round. BOW (Be Over the World) Group is a fast growing and consumer driven Internet-Of-Things (IOT) specialist, operating worldwide in the wearables, connected vehicles and smart home markets with 3 distinctive brands MyKronoz, RoadEyes and Deconnect.

"This new round of funding will enable us to expand our international presence to 100 countries by 2018 and to consolidate our leadership position in Europe while accelerating the development of innovative products and services within the IOT space. These investments will allow us to take the steps needed to fulfill our ambition to become a billion-dollar company in the next 5 years," says Boris Brault, Chairman and CEO of BOW Group. Mr. Brault remains BOW's majority shareholder.

Since its 2015 €10 million series A financing led b NextStage, BOW Group has demonstrated strong growth and profitable operations. BOW has over the last few years gained significant expertise in developing and launching IOT products through digital marketing and community engagement. Fueled by ambition and innovative vision, BOW Group has proven its ability to conquer new markets through a bold and winning commercial strategy combining traditional retail and digital channels. BOW has today sold more than 2.5 million devices.



The Swiss wearable brand MyKronoz is a strong asset of BOW Group. MyKronoz has in less than 4 years, established itself as a fierce challenger to both tech and traditional watchmakers, and is now considered one of the most promising startups in the smartwatch industry.

"Having backed BOW Group from its early beginning and helped them structure the 3 companies, we are proudly witnessing their ability to deliver innovations and scale up their business to compete in this fast-moving landscape. The Internet of Things market is set to hit $267B by 2020, and we are confident to be in an even stronger position today to take part, together, in this revolution," says Nicolas de Saint Etienne, BOW Board member and Managing Partner at NextStageAM.


About BOW: BOW (Be Over the World) Group is a fast-growing and consumer-driven IOT specialist, operating worldwide in the wearables, connected vehicles and smart home markets with 3 distinctive brands MyKronoz, RoadEyes and Deconnect.
Among its recent successes, there is the launch of ZeTime, MyKronoz's newest unique hybrid smartwatch introduced onto online crowdfunding platforms. With over $6,000,000 raised and goods already shipped out to more than 30,000 backers, ZeTime became the biggest 2017 project on Kickstarter and Indiegogo, and the largest one ever from a European company.
In addition, MyKronoz, with its Swiss DNA and unique position of delivering stylish wearable devices at an affordable price, ranks as the best-selling IOT brand within the retail network of the leading French telecom operator Orange (News - Alert), boosting its ambition to duplicate this commercial success to many more mobile carriers around the world. More recently, MyKronoz has been selected by Amazon to join their Launchpad program, and is pleased to be considered as one of the strategic wearable brands by the world's leading ecommerce platform.

About NextStage:
NextStage is an investment platform created in March 2015 and listed on the Euronext Paris market (Compartment C) since December 2016. As of June 30, 2017, its Adjusted Net Asset Value represents €160.4 million. NextStage specialises in Medium-Sized Companies (MSCs), which allows access to an unlisted and often inaccessible class of assets that drives growth and performance. It invests in equity with little or no leverage over an unlimited time frame to provide funding for the growth of MSCs, alongside visionary entrepreneurs. NextStage is backed by the know-how and stability of the asset management firm NextStage AM, which was founded in 2002. NextStage has already closed twelve investment transactions (as of September 30, 2017) since its inception.www.nextstage.com/sca.

About PM Equity Partner:
PM Equity Partner is the corporate venture fund of Philip Morris International. For more information see www.pmequitypartner.com.
For information about PMI, see www.pmi.com and www.pmiscience.com


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