Phone.com of the United States yesterday paid £310m for a British company that attracted seed capital of some £450,000 two years ago.

Paragon Software - which employs 63 people developing synchronisation technology allowing personal computer-based personal information to be transferred to mobile devices - accepted an offer of 3.6m Phone.com shares plus $7.5m (£4.7m) in cash.

The deal underlines the position of the Berkshire town of Newbury - home of Paragon - as the UK's mobile phone capital in the wake of locally based Vodafone's acquisition of Mannesmann.

It also guarantees a personal fortune for Paragon founder and chief executive Colin Calder, who attracted £450,000 in seed financing from investment group 3i after winning a newspaper competition in February 1998.

In November of that year 3i and Kennet Capital, the venture capital affiliate of Broadview, invested a further £1.25m to fund expansion into the US.

Paragon's main product is FoneSync, which allows users of PC and internet-based personal organisers using software such as Lotus Notes and Microsoft Outlook to transfer data to and from 240 types of mobile phone.

Its partners include mobile manufacturers Alcatel, Ericsson, Nokia and Panasonic.

Alain Rossmann, chairman and chief executive officer of Phone.com, said: "Mobile phone users are demanding touch of a button information management between the mobile phone, PC applications, and net services, whether or not they are online. The combination of Paragon Software and Phone.com will drive this technology to market."

Mr Calder said: "Extending our technology to WAP-based over the air synchronisation will revolutionise the way people use their phones."