Pontis Backs Mobile Gamer

Xendex, a Vienna, Austria-based mobile game developer, has raised EUR 2.3 million in first-round funding from Pontis Venture Partners and individual angels. 

PRESS RELEASE

In a first round of financing, PONTIS Venture Partners, a venture capital company headquartered in Vienna, Austria, as well as a group of business angels are participating with a EUR 2.3 million investment in Xendex, one of Europe's leading developers for mobile games. The former founders of 3United mobile solutions PLC, an Austrian company that was bought for EUR 55 million in early 2006 by global market leader Verisign, are among the business angels.

Portfolio of market leader Xendex

Founded in January 2001, Xendex was among the first companies in Europe to lead the booming mobile games industry. Xendex has become one of the most successful developers of high-quality mobile games, and has achieved international acclaim within the area of high-quality 3D games. With its comprehensive portfolio of more than 45 exceptional and award-winning games, Xendex has an outstanding position in the market, and counts many globally leading publishers to its client base. The motocross series “FMX” have had the greatest marketing success to date, selling over 2 million copies worldwide.

Awards for high-quality mobile games

Xendex has repeatedly received awards for its high-quality game development. Over the course of recent years, the company's titles were awarded prizes by the gaming press as well as mobile operators, such as the “Game of the Year” award from mobile service provider O2 in the UK. Leading German-speaking online magazine “airgamer.de” lists two Xendex titles as the top sports games of all times.

Content Service Area for the growth markets in Central- and Eastern Europe

Further, Xendex is providing content services such as quality assurance, games distribution as well as portfolio- and portal management for mobile service providers and independent games portals. The primary geographical focus of this business area lies in Central- and Eastern European markets, and Xendex has generated a sales growth of 80% in the last year with over 70 channel partners, including T-Mobile, Orange and O2.

A Future Global Player thanks to Venture Capital

Dr. Christoph Breidert, investment manager at PONTIS, comments on the participation: “It was not only the market successes as seen in recent times and the technically perfected and innovative production processes for mobile games; we were especially convinced by the positive feedback we received from the existing client base. We believe that Xendex is on its way to becoming a global player and wish to support it with our investment and know-how.”

Due to the flexible software technology the company owns, it is only a small step for Xendex to not only develop games for mobile phones, but also for other mobile devices such as the games console Nintendo DS. The worldwide revenue in this market segment adds up to billions of Euro and thus has a strategic relevance in the further growth of the company.

Michael Haberl, CEO of Xendex: “After more than seven years of success in the globally dynamic market for mobile games we wanted to join with financially powerful partners to accelerate our further international growth. Our partnership with PONTIS encourages this path in a consistent and capable manner. We are especially pleased that with PONTIS we will also gain a technologically knowledgeable partner. With the support of the business angels, we will be able to extend both operative and distributional activities, so that Xendex will have even stronger international footing.”

Mirko Kinigadner, business angel (former business manager of 3United / Verisign Communications GmbH): “Due to the in-depth knowledge of the market we gained over the years with 3United as well as the long-term business relationship with Michael Haberl, CEO of Xendex, we have decided to support the expansion of Xendex financially as well as through our existing network and operational activities.”

About Xendex Holding GmbH

Founded in 2001 Xendex is today a leading independent mobile and online games developer studio in Europe. Xendex employs more than 45 people and operates offices in Austria, Poland and the UK.

Using its cutting edge creative and technology know-how, the company