Riot Entertainment Receives an Additional USD 15 Million in Financing and Reinforces Its Position as A Leader in Global Wireless Entertainment.Entertainment Editors, Multimedia Writers HELSINKI, Finland--(BUSINESS WIRE)--October 12, 2000 Carlyle Internet Partners Europe Leads Financing of the Wireless Entertainment Leader Riot Entertainment (RIOT-E), the leader in wireless entertainment, today announced it received an additional 15 million USD USD In currencies, this is the abbreviation for the U.S. Dollar. Notes: The currency market, also known as the Foreign Exchange market, is the largest financial market in the world, with a daily average volume of over US $1 trillion. from an international group of investors. This second round of financing was led by Carlyle Internet Partners Europe (CIPE CIPE Center for International Private Enterprise CIPE Comitato Interministeriale per la Programmazione Economica (Italian) CIPE Center for Image Processing in Education CIPE Certification in Plumbing Engineering ), the European venture arm of The Carlyle Group  The of this article or section may be compromised by "weasel words".You can help Wikipedia by removing weasel words. The Carlyle Group is a Washington, D.C. , one of the largest global private equity firms. Existing investors, Nokia Venture Partners and Softbank UK Ventures, and new investors, CDB CDB Common Database CDB Caribbean Development Bank CDB Convention sur la Diversité Biologique (Convention on Biological Diversity) CDB China Development Bank (Beijing, China) CDB Capital Development Board WebTech, Stratos Ventures, and Lago Ventures, also participated in this round of funding. Riot Entertainment is a wireless content company that specializes in the development and distribution of wireless gaming, communication and commerce anytime, anywhere. RIOT-E's SMS (1) (Storage Management System) Software used to routinely back up and archive files. See HSM. (2) (Systems Management Server) Systems management software from Microsoft that runs on Windows NT Server. and WAP (1) (Wireless Access Point) See access point. (2) (Wireless Application Protocol) A standard for providing cellular phones, pagers and other handheld devices with secure access to e-mail and text-based Web pages. products feature a unique combination of strong branding and powerful storylines based on some of the most renowned names in the international entertainment industry. RIOT-E has strategic partnership agreements to develop wireless entertainment content and services with, among others, 20th Century Fox and Marvel Enterprises Inc. Jean-Bernard Tellio, Managing Director of CIPE, who will be joining Riot-E's Board of Directors said: "We believe Riot-E is emerging as the leading producer and distributor of wireless entertainment and is the best possible partner for existing media players who want to reach their existing communities through Riot-E's vast operator network." Riot Entertainment is aggressively rolling out its services globally, with major telecom partners in Spain, Italy, France, the United Kingdom, the Philippines, and Hong Kong Hong Kong (hŏng kŏng), Mandarin Xianggang, special administrative region of China, formerly a British crown colony (2005 est. pop. 6,899,000), land area 422 sq mi (1,092 sq km), adjacent to Guangdong prov. to a combined user base totalling over 50 million subscribers. These services are being launched in conjunction with the release of the X-Men movie and marketed jointly with 20th Century Fox. RIOT-E is also focusing on bringing its services to the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. where the market for wireless entertainment is rapidly emerging. Commenting on the new equity funding Equity funding An investment consisting of a life insurance policy and a mutual fund. The insurance policy is paid by the collateral value of fund shares, giving the investor the advantages of insurance protection with the growth potential of a mutual fund. , Jan Wellmann, CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. : "Our business focus will remain in wireless entertainment publishing. This requires global partnerships with leading operators, media companies, content owners and developers. The recent group of investors, led by Carlyle, represents for us an ideal, complementary pool of expertise and networking power in our mission to become a global leader in the wireless entertainment sector." Lori Belcastro of Carlyle Internet Partners Europe commented: "Wireless entertainment is becoming a key priority for operators as they start to capitalize on Cap´i`tal`ize on` v. t. 1. To turn (an opportunity) to one's advantage; to take advantage of (a situation); to profit from; as, to capitalize on an opponent's mistakes s>. data services. We believe that Riot-E's differentiated offering will help operators capture this market opportunity." Karim Abouzahr of Softbank UK Ventures commented: "As a pioneer in wireless entertainment, Riot demonstrates Softbank's continued commitment to building leading new economy companies. This investment also leverages Softbank UK Ventures' relationship with epartners, the venture capital arm of News Corporation. This financing round is a strong endorsement of Riot's continued success and prospects." Antti Kokkinen stating for Nokia Venture Partners: "Creation of Mobile Information Society is driven by availability of new high quality content. Riot Entertainment is at the forefront of reformatting wireless entertainment concepts, and therefore a great partner for Nokia Venture Partners in the expanding wireless entertainment arena." Nadim M. Nsouli of Lago Ventures commented: "Over the past six months we have reviewed the wireless entertainment sector and met with numerous companies in the space. Our decision to invest in Riot-E was based on our belief that the Company has the potential to remain a leader in its space. Its top notch management team and innovative approach of forming partnerships with leading entertainment companies, such as Marvel Enterprises, position it to capitalize on the many opportunities in the fast growing wireless entertainment sector." Kai kai Noun NZ informal food [Maori] kai noun N.Z. (informal) food, grub (slang) provisions, fare, board, commons, eats (slang Karttunen, Managing Partner commenting for Stratos Ventures: "We invested in Riot-E, as we believe in its strong management team and vision of delivering co-branded entertainment content to the mobile users. The dominant brands will be in best position to catch audiences also within the mobile space. In addition, Riot-E's exclusive mobile content deals with global partners such as Marvel Enterprises will provide interesting revenue opportunities for Riot-E, its content partners and mobile operators." Notes to editors: Riot Entertainment RIOT-E develops and distributes entertainment services and games for mobile devices in partnership with leading international entertainment and telecommunication companies. RIOT-E was established in February of 2000 and currently has offices in Helsinki, Singapore, and New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of . RIOT-E currently employs 90 people, with an executive team drawn from backgrounds in film, music, game production, and New Media. The Carlyle Group The Carlyle Group is one of the largest global private equity investment firms. The firm currently has more than $10 billion of capital under management dedicated to buyouts, strategic minority investments, venture capital, telecommunications services and real estate. Carlyle has been present in Europe since 1996 and currently has offices in London, Milan, Munich and Paris. Carlyle Internet Partners Europe (CIPE) is Carlyle's pan-European venture fund dedicated to Communications Technology Noun 1. communications technology - the activity of designing and constructing and maintaining communication systems engineering, technology - the practical application of science to commerce or industry and Services, Wireless-based Services, Information Technology and Internet businesses in the development stages from start-up to IPO (Initial Public Offering) The first time a company offers shares of stock to the public. While not a computer term per se, many founders, employees and insiders of computer companies have found this acronym more exciting than any tech term they ever heard. . CIPE has committed capital in excess of Euro 730 million managed by a team of 10 investment professionals. Additional information on The Carlyle Group can be found at www.thecarlylegroup.com CDB WebTech CDBWebtech is a listed private equity company founded by Carlo De Benedetti focusing on communication technology (infrastructure, applications and services) with emphasis on wireless Internet. The company invests worldwide in premiere communications venture capital funds Venture Capital Funds An investment fund that manages money from investors seeking private equity stakes in small and medium-size enterprises with strong growth potential. Notes: . In addition to investing through funds, it also makes selective direct investments in privately held companies privately held company A firm whose shares are held within a relatively small circle of owners and are not traded publicly. alongside its partner funds. The company provides access to its portfolio of 20 companies and 40 funds in USA, Europe, Israel, Asia and India to the Italian and European communications markets. As of today CDBWebtech has committed Euro 400 mm in selected funds and private companies. Stratos Ventures Stratos Ventures is a European early-stage venture capital fund that invests in leading information and communication technology companies with substantial global growth potential. Stratos Ventures focuses its investments on selected clusters within mobile communications and mobile Internet Refers to gaining access to the Internet using a lightweight, handheld device. See Mobile IP, PDA, smartphone and mobile TV. . Stratos Ventures has offices in Helsinki, London and San Diego San Diego (săn dēā`gō), city (1990 pop. 1,110,549), seat of San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1850. San Diego includes the unincorporated communities of La Jolla and Spring Valley. Coronado is across the bay. . Lago Ventures Lago Ventures is a venture capital firm focused on investment opportunities in the telecommunications and technology fields with a focus in the following areas: Telecommunications, Broadband, Wireless Technology, esolutions and Enabling Infrastructure. The Lago network consists of regional affiliates, portfolio companies, senior level individuals and a number of strategic partners who are committed to supporting entrepreneurs in taking their entrepreneurial endeavors to the next level. Softbank UK Ventures Softbank UK Ventures (SBUKV) is a $450 million venture capital fund dedicated to investing in and building the best new economy companies in the UK and Ireland; key investment areas include the Internet, new media, and wireless. SBUKV's lead investors are Softbank Corp, one of the worlds leading Internet investors and a stakeholder stakeholder n. a person having in his/her possession (holding) money or property in which he/she has no interest, right or title, awaiting the outcome of a dispute between two or more claimants to the money or property. in over 400 Internet companies, and ePartners, the venture capital arm of News Corporation. Softbank UK Ventures brings to its portfolio companies the international networks of its lead investors and the expertise which help leading internet brands Yahoo!, E*Trade and Zdnet to the global market. Nokia Venture Partners Based in Menlo Park, California Menlo Park is a city in San Mateo County, California in the United States of America. It is located at latitude 37°29' North, longitude 122°9' East. Menlo Park had 30,785 inhabitants as of the 2000 U.S. Census. , Nokia Venture Partners, L.P. is a US$100 million venture capital fund formed in 1998 to invest in early stage, high-growth companies in the areas of e-commerce, information technology and communications. Nokia Corporation has invested in the fund with the intention to gain exposure to new markets, business models and technologies beyond the reach of Nokia's current business unit strategies. Nokia Venture Partners seeks partnerships with leading-edge companies attacking high-growth market opportunities that will benefit from the combined resources, experience and contacts of the Nokia Venture Partners team and from the association with a world-class brand. For more information, visit www.nokiaventures.com |
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