Player X raises major investment $10 million for growth
January 18th 2007 Mobile media company Player X has announced a second round of venture capital funding raising £5 million ($9.85 million) for rapid expansion and to accelerate its global content strategy across mobile TV, video and games.
This second round of funding includes new investment from venture capitalists Nordic Venture Partners and Long Acre Partners as well as further investment from original investors Arts Alliance.
The funding follows the company’s first round of funding in October 2005 that included investment from venture capitalist Arts Alliance and sports rights company Bullion International, a company founded by Fox Kids Europe founder Ynon Kreiz.
"This is great news for the company and takes us to the next stage of growth. Having Nordic Venture Partners and Long Acre Partners on our board underlines how far we have come since our first round of funding. In less than two years the company has become a leading publisher and distributor of games and a pioneer in the emerging mobile video and TV markets - and this investment is key to this area," said Tony Pearce, CEO of Player X.
The news follows Player X's recent success in publishing and distributing mobile games as well as the increasing impact of its emerging mobile video division. In December last year the company launched its mobile TV channel geekTV with UK operator 3 UK, a channel that exceeded all revenue expectations.
“We met with many mobile content companies but what excited us about Player X was not only its impressive games business, but also its leadership in mobile video. We're confident the company will continue to make giant strides in both areas,” said Larry McDonald, Partner at Nordic Venture Partners.
In 2006 Player X published the exclusive mobile game of that summer's Miami Vice movie and two of its game titles, Family Fortunes and Blockbusters have featured regularly in the ELSPA Mobile Games Top 10. Its mobile game of Oscar-winning film Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit was a global hit and helped the company make its mark in North America.
For more information, please contact monty.munford@playerx.com or +44 (0) 7970 673695 or go to http://www.playerx.com.
Notes to Editors
About Player X
Player X is a mobile media company that specialises in games, video and TV. It develops, publishes and distributes mobile entertainment content through global operators, portals and handset manufacturers.
Player X has direct deals with more than 85 global operators and a potential audience of 1.8 billion people. The company operates in all five continents across the world and has offices in all the key territories in Europe, Asia and the Americas.
About Nordic Venture Partners
Nordic Venture Partners is a venture capital firm with a portfolio of investments in the Information and Communications Technology sector. Their objective is to identify and develop unique young companies focusing in the following areas: enterprise software and hardware, communications software and hardware and internet applications and infrastructure.
The company adds value to their portfolio companies by offering support and access to resources in key management areas, such as strategic planning, financing, recruiting of executives and board members and international business development. Nordic Venture Partners is a venture capital company with a global perspective, dedicated to world class performance through hands-on involvement and international networking, applied in a few chosen ventures with unique potential.
About Long Acre Partners
Formed in 2000, LongAcre Partners is an independent management-owned corporate finance advisory house focusing on the European mid-market media sector, including leisure, entertainment and on-line.
LongAcre has completed €8 billion worth of transactions for clients including 3i, Trader Classified Media, ALL3MEDIA and Friends Reunited. Our Executives have extensive financial expertise with backgrounds in major banks and advisory boutiques. We also have direct operational experience, with executives from Lastminute.com, Channel 4 and The Wireless Group in our team. We instinctively think like principals.