Fathammer Receives a Capital Investment of One Million Euros

Fathammer Receives a Capital Investment of One Million Euros Press release December 2, 2004 Finnish mobile graphics and gaming company Fathammer has received a capital investment of one million euros from Sitra. Founded in 2000 by a group of industry veterans with backgrounds in gaming, telecommunications and mobile technology, Fathammer now has offices in Helsinki and Seoul, Korea. With this investment, Sitra will become the third largest shareholder of Fathammer. Previous investors include 3i, funds managed by Nexit Ventures and a group of individual investors. The investment will be used to strengthen Fathammer’s position as an international mobile game developer and distributor. Fathammer’s flagship product X-Forge® 2 is an industry-leading game development system for creating high quality 3D mobile games. With X-Forge, games can be converted quickly to various platforms, such as PDAs and cell phones. X-Forge is used by leading device manufacturers and publishers such as Nokia, Samsung, Dell, THQ and Sega. Over 20 commercial mobile game titles have already been developed with X-Forge. Fathammer also offers a growing portfolio of critically acclaimed mobile games. Fathammer’s game portfolio includes games developed in-house as well as with external developers. The best known games are Stuntcar Extreme and Spy Hunter, the latter of which brought Fathammer two Mobies Awards at CTIA 2004. The most important sales channels for Fathammer games are device manufacturers, operators, mobile portals and publishers. – The demand for mobile games is growing rapidly along with new mobile device launches. Mobile games are often integrated into entertainment brands marketing, and this makes the game development project size even bigger. Fathammer has achieved a good position in international mobile game distribution channels, and we need more game developers to work with in creating games for new and existing brands, says Matti Airas, CEO of Fathammer. – There is a lot of gaming knowledge and competence in Finland, but the industry structure is fragmented and the companies are small. The Finnish gaming industry suffers from a lack of business competence and the inability to make international distribution contracts, says Tuomo Airaksinen, Director of Sitra. – Fathammer is a strong provider of gaming technology, which has clearly shown its ability to grow and move up in the value chain. Thanks to its international position and competence, Fathammer has a significant role in the development of the Finnish mobile gaming industry. The Finnish software cluster is also supported by officials such as SILE-project of Ministry of Trade and Industry, Fenix of Tekes, and the gaming industry’s own Neogames. – With this capital investment, Sitra can influence the creation of the gaming industry network and the competence of the companies in it, says Tuomo Airaksinen. Contact: Matti Airas, CEO, Fathammer, Tel +358 40 822 2010, E-mail matti.airas@fathammer.com, http://www.fathammer.com Tuomo Airaksinen, Director, Funding, Sitra, Tel +358 50 372 0820, E-mail tuomo.airaksinen@sitra.fi 7.12.2004/LNI