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WirelessDevNet.com Press Release
Fathammer Closes Investment Round With Nexit Ventures And 3i to Strengthen Technology
Helsinki, Finland – September 7, 2004 – Nexit Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on next generation information and communication technologies, and 3i, Europe's leading private equity and venture capital company, today announced an investment in Fathammer, a leader in advanced mobile gaming.
Nexit Ventures co-lead the investment round of 4 million euros with 3i, a previous investor of Fathammer. The investment will be used to intensify Fathammer’s sales and marketing efforts globally, especially in fast-growing Asian markets.
Fathammer’s flagship product X-Forge® 2 is an industry-leading game development system for creating high quality 3D mobile games. X-Forge allows games to be converted quickly to various platforms, such as PDAs and cell phones. X-Forge helps developers and publishers ensure their content is widely available right from the launch date. As a result, a higher number of device manufacturers are able to have the most appealing content on their devices.
Fathammer also offers a growing portfolio of critically acclaimed mobile games. X-Forge powers over 20 commercially launched games developed both in-house and by partner studios, and several development projects worldwide.
In-house game design ensures X-Forge developers receive direct first-hand feedback of the game development process.
“A true gaming experience is finally coming to mobile phones and other wireless devices. Advanced wireless games will run on multiple types of devices and operating systems, be connected to both a server and each other, and feature awesome 3D content, providing gamers with a deep and visually impressive entertainment experience,” said Matti Airas, CEO, Fathammer.
“This investment enables us to execute our strategy aggressively and to continue to lead the advanced wireless gaming market.”
“With an increasing variety of mobile platforms on the market, a key to success for developers of mobile games and applications is the ability to make their products available with as many kinds of devices as possible, as quickly as possible,” said Pekka Salonoja, Venture Partner, Nexit Ventures.
"Fathammer’s core strengths include a thorough understanding of mobile devices and how to optimally harness their power in games. Fathammer is well on the way to becoming the world leader in facilitating the production of advanced mobile games."
“As early investors in Fathammer, we have been impressed with the company's capability to create close partnerships with world-leading players in this field,” said Kimmo Korpela, Associate Director, 3i. “We believe this is a perfect time to add resources in order to fully utilize the company’s strategic position, as the market for advanced mobile gaming is now in an early phase of strong growth.”
Fathammer was founded in Helsinki, Finland, in October 2000 by a group of industry veterans with backgrounds in gaming, telecommunications and mobile technology. Fathammer’s engineering and development operations are based in Helsinki, Finland, and the company also has offices in Seoul, Korea, and San Jose, California.
Nexit Ventures, a new stakeholder in Fathammer, invests in Nordic and US companies whose innovations are in enabling technologies for telecom and infocom industries. Operating in Helsinki and Saratoga, Nexit provides its portfolio companies with a transatlantic bridge and concrete hands-on support in setting up and developing their international operations.
Further Information:
Mr. Matti Airas, CEO, Fathammer
Tel. +358 40 822 2010
Email matti@fathammer.com
Mr. Pekka Salonoja, Venture Partner, Nexit Ventures Tel. +358 9 6874 0600, +358 40 836 9034 Email pekka.salonoja@nexitventures.com
Mr. Kimmo Korpela, Associate Director, 3i Tel. +46 70 348 8819 Email kimmo_korpela@3i.com
Mr. Juha Rantanen, Netprofile Tech PR for Nexit Ventures Tel. +358 9 6812 080 Email juha@netprofiletechpr.com
About Fathammer
Fathammer is a pioneering leader in Advanced Mobile Gaming, providing high quality 3D games and development tools for mobile platforms. Fathammer provides its industry-leading X-Forge® 2 Game Development System and developer support services to game publishers and developers as well as mobile device manufacturers and wireless operators. X-Forge Powered games bring console quality 3D gaming to a wide range of mobile devices. Fathammer Ltd is a privately owned company and has offices in San Jose (CA), Helsinki
(Finland) and Seoul (Korea). More information can be found at www.fathammer.com.
About Nexit Ventures
Nexit Ventures is a venture capital firm focused on next generation information and communication technologies. Based in Helsinki (Finland) and Saratoga (Ca., USA), Nexit Ventures invests in Nordic and US companies and supports the growth and development of the portfolio companies with a pragmatic hands-on approach. The fund’s investors include several international technology business opinion leaders and successful entrepreneurs, and the majority of the fund’s capital comes from outside Finland. As the only Finnish venture capital firm with a strong network in the technology industry both in the Nordic countries and Silicon Valley, Nexit Ventures has built a bridge for its portfolio companies that links together these two important technology hotbeds. For further information, please visit www.nexitventures.com.
About 3i
3i is a world leader in private equity and venture capital. We focus on buy-outs, growth capital and venture capital and invest across Europe, in the United States and in Asia Pacific. Our competitive advantage comes from our international network and the strength and breadth of our relationships in business. It underpins the value that we deliver to our portfolio and to our shareholders. 3i’s buy-out business concentrates on the mid and smaller buy-out markets in Europe and Asia Pacific. In the year to 31 March 2004 3i invested €738m. Our growth capital business invests in high growth companies expanding organically or through acquisition. In the year to 31 March 2004, 3i invested €470m. 3i’s venture capital business invested €261m in the year to 31 March 2004 in early stage technology companies. Further information:
www.3i.com.
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