The Public Move of a Virtual Gamemaker
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Despite the French dot.com downturn, Groupe Arnault-backed Cryonetworks is launching its IPO
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French Internet IPOs may be down, but they're not out. On Sept. 21, Cryonetworks, the Internet subsidiary of French game software publisher Cryo Interactive, will float 20% of its capital on Paris' high-tech Nouveau Marché. Groupe Arnault, the holding company of LVMH Chairman Bernard Arnault, which has been extremely active in dot.com investments, owns 17% of the three-year-old company and management holds 6%. Cryonetworks plans to raise more than $27 million with its upcoming IPO.
Cryonetworks, which created France's first virtual world with the 1998 launch of its interactive 3-D city called Cryopolis, has two main activities. One consists of creating online games such as Mankind, Fireteam, and Venice as well as virtual worlds such as Cryopolis, where people disguised as avatars can meet and chat. The other handles the development of SCOL technology, short for Standard Cryo On Line, which is a programming language that includes 3-D, audio, and video elements and is compatible with existing systems. France's giant book and music retail chain, Fnac, for example, uses this technology for the presentation of its virtual gallery.
Thanks to partnerships and agreements with Net players and retailers in Europe, Cryonetworks has been able to market its technology successfully. SCOL plug-ins are also distributed cost-free through mainstream service providers such as LibertySurf, Freesbee, and Free in France. Cryonetworks hopes to distribute 19 million such plug-ins by the end of the year using this method and intends to raise that number to 35 million by 2002, thereby creating a base of 5 million Web users, says the company.
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