Video on Mobile

Actimagine Raises 3M Euro From GRP Partners

PARIS, July 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Actimagine, which provides the most advanced video compression technologies, announces today that the Company has raised EUR3 million in equity financing from US venture capital firm GRP Partners . This first round of institutional fund raising will enable Actimagine to accelerate its business development in the USA and Japan.

Actimagine licenses Mobiclip(TM), its patented power-efficient software video codec, which delivers better video quality while reducing power consumption. Mobiclip is a completely new technology, and is therefore not subject to MPEG, MP3 or any other codec licenses. Mobiclip has already been endorsed by major content studios such as Sony Pictures Digital to deliver full-length, full-screen, 30 frames per second movies on 128MB memory cards. Leading handset manufacturers like Nokia and Sony Ericsson have launched marketing campaigns for new smart phones by bundling them with memory cards, powered by Mobiclip, containing full-length blockbuster movies. With Mobiclip, a Nokia phone with full standard batteries runs more than 7 hours of video playback without recharging.

"Mobile video becomes a market reality. We believe that improving the user experience is a key driver to establish successful recurring business models for mobile carriers, handset manufacturers as well as content publishers. On mobile platform, user experience is about valuable contents, higher quality, simpler usage and long battery lifetime. We leverage on our expertise in video on mobile gaming consoles and toys to provide a state-of-the-art video codec for mobile phones. Our ambition is to become the leading video technology," says Andre Pagnac, Actimagine CEO.

"Actimagine has developed an innovative and impressive video technology which can help mobile operators and equipment manufacturers to deliver a truly optimized and complete product offering to a mobile video market that is still struggling to define and perfect a sustainable and profitable business model." says Yves Sisteron from GRP Partners.

In the wider consumer electronics industry, Actimagine's patented technology has already been successfully adopted by key market players. Nintendo Co., Ltd. has licensed Mobiclip to feature 90 minutes of animated classics such as Shrek(TM) or Pokemon(TM) on 32MB cartridges on the Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Advance SP and the Nintendo DS(TM). Fisher-Price uses Actimagine's power-efficient software video codec to provide cartoons on its Pixter(R) Multi-Media toy.

Actimagine also joined forces with Sharp Microelectronics of the Americas to increase video performances for its ARM based portfolio of microcontrollers. By achieving higher video performance without requiring a higher performance processor or increasing overall power consumption, these enhanced SoCs open new possibilities for portable media devices.

About Actimagine

Created in March 2003 by a team of highly qualified engineers and experienced managers, Actimagine Corp is registered in Delaware, USA and currently headquartered in Paris, France. The company has overseas branches in Tokyo and Singapore and plans to open its US office in the very near future. Actimagine provides a most advanced video codec that delivers higher quality and higher compression while using far less CPU power than usual solution and standards.