Funcom secures new funding
by Jolex Del Pilar

Wednesday, April 28 2004

Funcom secures €4.5 million in financing from Northzone Ventures.

Funcom NV announced today that it has secured a €4.5 million equity investment from a consortium of Northzone Ventures (€3.5 million) and existing investors Teknoinvest and Stelt Holding. The investment enables Funcom to further increase the scope and quality of their future Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOG), while expanding Funcom's sales and marketing capabilities globally.

"We have already proven that we are a world leading MMOG developer with Anarchy Online" says Funcom's CEO and President Trond Arne Aas, and continues "Anarchy Online is today a highly profitable game. The financing from Stelt, Northzone and Teknoinvest will enable us to further increase our investment in the development of the next generation online games and to become even better at what we excel at; creating unique and immersive virtual worlds for a global market of consumers".

Torleif Ahlsand, Partner in Northzone Ventures and new Chairman of the Board of Directors, said,: "The MMOG genre is currently the fastest growing segment within the expanding gaming industry, and offers several attractive attributes, including the monthly subscription revenue model, a global market potential, expanding demographics and low risk of piracy. We are impressed by the high calibre of the Funcom team, and feel confident in their ability to develop new world-class games".

Funcom is now developing three MMOGs, one of them being the successful Anarchy Online which is the subject of ongoing development.

Funcom Portfolio highlights:

- Anarchy Online – Shadowlands, PC (2003)
'Expansion pack of the year 2003', IGN.com
'Outstanding achievement in Art Direction', RPGvault.com

- Anarchy Online – Notum Wars, PC (2002)
'Expansion pack of the year 2002', Computer Gaming World

- Anarchy Online, PC (2001)
'Online Game of the year 2001', PC gamer US
'Best Online game E3 2001'
'Best Online Game ECTS 2001'

- The Longest Journey, PC (2000)
'Adventure game of the year 2000'
PC gamer US, IGN.com, Gamespot.com, Gamespy.com, Gamers.com

- Championship Motocross 2001, Playstation (2001)
- Championship Motocross, Playstation (1999)
- Speed Freaks, Playstation (1999)
- NBA Hangtime, Super Nintendo/Sega MD (1996)
- Pocahontas, Sega Genesis (1996)
- Casper - the friendly ghost, Playstation (1995)

--- Jolex Del Pilar