“The participation of the top three global handset manufacturers in this round of funding is a ringing endorsement of INSIDE’s leadership in the emerging near field communication market, and gives us a strategic advantage with the key players in the industry,” said Rémy de Tonnac, CEO of INSIDE Contactless.

The INSIDE MicroRead RF chip has contributed greatly to the company’s success to date. Released in February 2008, the chip was selected as the winner of the GSMA’s 2008 Mobile Innovation Global Award for Most Innovative Device-Centric Technology. As it meets a wide range of industry standards and specifications (some of which INSIDE contributed to developing) a MicroRead-enabled device can be used for all traditional NFC applications in addition to newer applications such as access control, logistics and tracking, as well as a wide range of legacy RFID applications.

The MicroRead chip has been adopted internationally by several major handset manufacturers, and also is a key component of the GSMA’s Pay-Buy-Mobile initiative, a program that provides a single approach to enabling contactless payments using mobile phones. Mobile operators in Australia, France, Ireland, Korea, Malaysia, Norway, The Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Turkey, and the U.S. have implemented the MicroRead chip in handsets used in the Pay-Buy-Mobile program.

“We are optimistic about NFC technology’s ability to bring exciting new payment and other applications to mobile handsets, and INSIDE’s leadership in moving this market forward is impressive,” said Brian Kang, managing director of Samsung Ventures America. “Our investment expresses our confidence in INSIDE’s ability to continue its success not only in the contactless payment market but also in the emerging NFC technology for mobile phones.”