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InvestmentCEA and DMW Announce Partnership for LA Games ConferenceAuthored by Ned Sherman on May 25, 2008 - 2:06pm.
Game Developer Destineer Gets $12 Million Equity InvestmentAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on April 28, 2006 - 9:01am.
Minneapolis, Minn. - Destineer, a developer and publisher of video games and virtual training simulations, announced this week that it has received a $12 million equity investment from The Exxel Group. Founded in 2001 by a former executive at Microsoft's Bungie games studio, Destineer has developed titles including "Close Combat," "Elite Warriors: Vietnam" and "Starship Troopers"; the company also develops virtual training simulations for government, military, and intelligence organizations around the world. "The venture capitalists of the videogame industry have traditionally been the large publishers, because they're the ones who have funded most game development until now," said Destineer CEO Paul Rinde. "But, this new trend of private-equity firms investing in the games industry gives creative companies like Destineer much more flexibility to make games the established publishers are less likely to create." The company will use the funds for several as yet unannounced titles for consoles and the PC, as well as to expand distribution and product development in Latin America.
Switzerland's Esmertec Makes Investment in JavagroundAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on February 9, 2006 - 3:36am.
Zurich - Esmertec, a Switzerland-based software developer for mobile handsets and embedded devices, announced that it has made a strategic investment in Javaground, a supplier of tools and services that allow the deployment of Java games and applications across a number of models of phones and multimedia devices. Although financial terms were not disclosed, Esmertec did say that it has taken a 19.9% minority stake in Javaground and that it has an option to obtain a controlling interest in the company in 2007. Javaground has offices in Belgium and Silicon Valley.
Interactive TV Firm RedLynx Gets Investment from 3i GroupAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on February 9, 2006 - 3:22am.
London - lU.K.-based 3i Group Plc, the largest publicly traded private equity firm in Europe, announced that it has made a small investment in RedLynx, a Finland-based start-up that provides interactive TV programming to broadcasters in more than 20 countries. Although financial terms were not disclosed, 3i did say that it has acquired a 12.5% stake in RedLynx. The Finnish firm, which last year had more than $3.6 million in turnover, said it would use the funds for international expansion.
Israeli Mobile TV Chipmaker Siano Mobile Secures $20 Million InvestmentAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on February 3, 2006 - 6:50am.
Tel Aviv - Siano Mobile Silicon, an Israel-based developer of integrated semiconductor receivers for mobile digital TV, announced that it has raised approximately $20 million in second round funding. The announcement comes just six months after the company raised more than $9.6 million. Jerusalem Venture Partners led the latest round, with existing investors Walden Israel and Star Ventures also participating. Siano's chips bring digital TV functionality to satellite navigation devices, mobile phones, smart phones/PDAs and other mobile and portable devices.
Codemasters Appoints New Chairman, Gets Investment from BenchmarkAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on February 3, 2006 - 6:39am.
London - U.K.-based video game developer Codemasters announced on Friday that Chirs Deering, former chairman and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, has joined the company's board as non-executive chairman. Codemasters also announced that venture capital firm Benchmark Capital Europe has increased its investment in the company. Benchmark acquired 40% of the company in April 2005, and has now increased its stake in Codemasters to 70%.
AI Software Firm Kynogon Secures $3 Million InvestmentAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on January 10, 2006 - 4:36am.
Paris - Kynogon, a Paris-based AI (artificial intelligence) software firm, announced that it has raised about $3 million in venture capital financing. Innovacom led the round, with existing investor Cap Decisif also participating. Kynogon said it would use the funds to open an office in North America and build on the early success of its Kynapse product, used by games developers for character animation. Kynogon's technology is used by EADS and British Aerospace, as well as some of the world's top game developers, including Electronic Arts, Atari, Real Time Worlds, Ascaron, Majesco and Pyro Studios.
U.K. Game Developer Digital Jesters in $5 Million Investment, Merger DealAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on November 28, 2005 - 10:29am.
London - British video game publisher Digital Jesters announced that it has received a $5 million investment from U.S.-based Myriad Interactive, and will merge with Myriad to form a new company, the DJ Group. "We've big plans for the DJ group," Myriad head Marco Landi, former president and COO of Apple, told GamesIndustry.biz. "We've already set up our infrastructure, and it's our intention that this new group will quickly grow through expansion and acquisition into a real major player." DJ Group labels will include Digital Jesters, DJ Interactive, Turtle Games and Monte Cristo. The company's first title will be "Crazy Frog Racer," based on the animated ringtone character that first became popular in the U.K.; the game is set for release for the PC and PlayStation 2 on Dec. 9. Digital Jesters said that several claims of non-payment of contracts by developers are still outstanding, and will still be taken up in court solely by Digital Jesters.
AOL Leads $16.6 Million Investment Round for Internet TV Firm BrightcoveAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on November 22, 2005 - 11:15am.
Cambridge, Mass. - Brightcove, a provider of an open Internet TV service for content publishers, said on Tuesday that it has received a major investment from America
Online, which led the company's new $16.2 million funding round. The companies also have forged a video content distribution partnership, which will allow video publishers using Brightcove's service to syndicate their video content directly to AOL.com. AOL will market a co-branded version of the service as the self-service platform for publishing video on AOL.com. The service that allows video publishers to distribute and their programming through a variety of broadband channels. Other investors in the company's second round included IAC/InterActiveCorp, Hearst, Allen & Company, Accel Partners and General Catalyst Partners. U.K. Online Game Developer Jagex Gets Investment from InsightAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on October 25, 2005 - 6:54am.
London - Jagex, a developer and publisher of massively multiplayer online games, announced on Tuesday that it has received an undisclosed equity investment from Insight Venture Partners. U.K.-based Jagex operates the online game "RuneScape," which currently claims 3.5 million active players and 500,000 paying subscribers; other Jagex titles include "Meltdown" and "SlimeWar," and a number of free-to-play mini-games. The company will use the funds to expand its games into non-English-language markets, and for ongoing development of "RuneScape" and other titles.
Nordic Mobile Games Firm Gamelion Secures InvestmentAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on September 14, 2005 - 3:38am.
Stockholm -- Gamelion, a developer of mobile game delivery technology based in the Nordic region, announced that it has raised an undisclosed amount of venture capital financing. Magnolia Ventures, a Finland-based early stage VC firm, led the round. Gemelion, the Finnish company formerly known Gamelot, has developed a technology called Claw that automates the publishing of mobile games to different mobile devices. The company said it would use the funds to speed up its growth and expands its global sales and marketing efforts. The company is also planning to expand into the U.S. market sometime next year. "By combining our Claw technology to the fact that we have a successful working history with the largest publishers of our industry, we have been able to build a rapidly growing profitable company," said Gamelion CEO Anton Gauffin. "Now Gamelion will continue roaring for profitable growth."
TechBooks Raises $45 Million Investment From American CapitalAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on August 25, 2005 - 6:45am.
Fairfax, Va. -- TechBooks, a company that converts printed materials into digital formats, has raised $45 million from American Capital Strategies, a publicly traded buyout and mezzanine fund. TechBooks, which has major operations in India, also announced that it has acquired India-based Maximize Learning for an undisclosed amount. Founded in 1988, TechBooks employs over 3,000 people, with a large number of its employees in India.
Portable DVR Maker Archos Gets $9 Million Investment From EchoStarAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on June 23, 2005 - 8:21am.
Irvine, Calif. -- French consumer electronics firm Archos announced on Thursday that it has received a $9 million strategic investment from EchoStar Communications, operator of the DISH Network satellite TV service. Under the deal, Archos will provide EchoStar with portable digital video recorders that DISH Network subscribers can use to download TV content directly from a set-top box for viewing on the go. EchoStar plans to begin delivering the Archos portable video recorders -- which will disable the digital output found on other Archos devices -- in the fall of 2005.
MobiTV Gets Investment From Liberty Digital's Jarl MohnAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on June 17, 2005 - 8:43am.
Berkeley, Calif. -- MobiTV, a developer of live mobile TV delivery to cell phones, announced on Monday that it has received an undisclosed investment from Liberty Digital founding president Jarl Mohn, who has also joined the company's board of directors. Berkeley, Calif.-based MobiTV offers cell phone TV services in the U.S., U.K., Canada and Latin America, providing content through deals with Major League Baseball, Fox News, The Weather Channel and others. "MobiTV is a significant investment opportunity, as they have earned a leadership position in a category that is experiencing a faster distribution trajectory than that of radio and even cable television did at inception," said Mohn.
Mobile Entertainment Firm Airmedia Gets Investment from Sierra VenturesAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on April 27, 2005 - 6:43am.
San Francisco -- Airmedia, a developer and publisher of mobile entertainment applications, announced on Wednesday that it has raised an undisclosed amount in a new financing round from Sierra Ventures.
Mobile Video Developer Hantro Secures Additional $5.2 Million InvestmentAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on January 11, 2005 - 10:39am.
Helsinki -- Hantro Oy, a Finland-based provider of video enabling technology for mobile handsets, announced this week that it has secured a further $5.2 million investment. A group led by CapMan, Nexit Ventures and Menire led the round. Hantro said it would use the investment to strengthen its position in the global marketplace. "Throughout the last year, it has been increasingly obvious that video services are forming a central part of the network operators' strategies for increasing average revenue per user (ARPU)," said Hantro founder and CEO Eero Kaikkonen. "Whilst we have heard some mention of proprietary formats for video compression, it is clear that the preference is for standards based technology, such as MPEG4 Simple Profile, H.263 and MPEG4 AVC / H.264." Hantro's current customers include Nokia, Agere, Freescale, T-Mobile, Vodafone, Alcatel, Quanta and Mtekvision.
Samsung Makes Investment in Video Compression Developer DivXNetworksAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on January 6, 2005 - 2:37am.
San Diego -- DivXNetworks, a developer of video compression and video-on-demand delivery technologies, announced on Thursday that it has received a capital investment from Samsung Ventures America, a $300 million fund operated by the Korean consumer electronics firm. Financial details of the investment were not disclosed. San Diego-based DivXNetworks claims 160 million global users of its video compression technology, and says over 20 million consumer electronics devices that support the DivX format were shipped in 2004. Samsung Electronics itself has released several DVD players that include support for video encoded in the DivX format. "We're very pleased to receive the strong support of Samsung Ventures, and we look forward to bringing the power and performance of DivX compression and advanced multimedia technologies to a wide range of high-quality Samsung products," said DivXNetworks president Shahi Ghanem.
Wireless Entertainment Firm Digital Orchid Gets Investment from QualcommAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on December 17, 2004 - 8:50am.
San Diego -- Digital Orchid, a developer of branded real-time wireless applications, announced that it has received a strategic investment from wireless developer Qualcomm. San Diego-based Digital Orchid has developed programs for Qualcomm's BREW platform including Nascar.com To Go's PitCommand, which offers fans access to real-time pit crew information using telemetry and GPS technology. The company also delivers Nascar-branded wallpapers, ringtones and news. Digital Orchid has an established presence in Latin America, where it distributes in Mexico, Ecuador, Puerto Rico, Nicaragua, and Guatemala, and plans to expand into Chile, Argentina and Brazil next year.
Myspace.com Parent Company Intermix Gets $4 Million InvestmentAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on December 8, 2004 - 3:46am.
Los Angeles -- Intermix Media, an online media and entertainment company that operates the Myspace.com social networking service, announced on Wednesday that it has received a $4 million equity investment from Redpoint Ventures. Under the terms, Redpoint will receive one million shares of Intermix, and a warrant to purchase an additional 150,000 shares at a price of $4 per share, in return for a minority stake in MySpace, Inc. Separately, Intermix announced the departure of chief financial officer Tom Flahie, for personal reasons. Los Angeles-based Intermix said that Myspace.com, whose rivals include Friendster, is currently adding an average of 35,000 new members daily. The company will use the funds to further expansion of the MySpace infrastructure, reduce the interest of its early investors and founders, and position the company for continued growth and evolution.
Weed File-Sharing Service Gets Investment From Marketing Firm AirvisionAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on December 2, 2004 - 4:49am.
Seattle -- Shared Media Licensing, the Seattle-based developer of the Weed file-sharing service, announced on Thursday that it has received an undisclosed investment from the AV Capital division of Airvision, a Seattle-based marketing firm. The Weed peer-to-peer distribution system allows users to listen to a track several times before paying for it. If the user forwards the song to a friend, and the friend purchases the track, the sender receives a share of the profit, along with the artist, record label and Shared Media Licensing. The company said that more than 7,000 artists have now distributed tracks through Weed, including Built to Spill, Chuck D and Heart. Weed is also offered through eBay's trial digital music service. "The involvement of AV Capital allows us to move ahead rapidly in software development, marketing, and content acquisition," said Shared Media Licensing president John Beezer. "Airvision's expertise in consumer psychology and brand development is key to our growth going forward."
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In case you missed it, here is the press release from last week announcing our new partnership with the Consumer Electronics Association for LA Games Conference. This gives us a significant step up as we increase our profile and position as one of the leading publishers and event producers covering the $17.9 billion game industry (2007 sales figures, according to NPD Group). For more information about our annual LA Games Conference, please visit
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