Gaming fun with success guaranteed: online games provider Travian Games and northworks join forces

High-Tech Gründerfonds, DuMont Venture and bAV Consult are selling their stakes in northworks Software GmbH, thereby securing significant returns for their investors. 

Travian Games GmbH has acquired the equity shares held by investors in northworks Software GmbH. Hamburg-based online games provider northworks, in which High-Tech Gründerfonds acquired a stake in 2007, develops and markets one of the world’s best and most successful football and basketball manager games; its customers number around 1.8 million players. The company’s resolute growth strategy and its portfolio of exciting games soon awoke the interest of further investors. “For the second time this year we have been able to sell a portfolio company at a profit while at the same time providing the company with the basis for very sustained growth,” said Dr. Alex von Frankenberg, Managing Director of High-Tech Gründerfonds.

For DuMont Venture, this further exit on the gaming market constitutes a confirmation of its sector focus and strategy. Jörg Binnenbrücker, Managing Director of DuMont Venture, commented as follows: “I got to know the founders of northworks in an early phase of their business and was soon convinced by the attractive niche in the online market for sports manager games and by the competence within the team. The fast-growing browser games market is, in general, one of our target markets. I am therefore pleased about the second exit in this segment and look forward to the “next northworks” in our games portfolio.”

Travian Games focuses on high quality in the development of its games and has secured a strong partner in northworks. Through the merger, the Bavarian games provider aims to create new worlds of experience for its fans. Florian Bohn, Managing Director of Travian Games, said the following about the successful collaboration: “We are very happy about this acquisition. Online sports games are very much in fashion, and we are very pleased to be setting a clear trend together with northworks in this fast-growing market”.

The games offering of Travian Games is known the world over: each product is a miniature work of art, and they are now enthusing around 5.2 million active customers in more than 50 countries.

About northworks Software GmbH:
northworks Software GmbH is a successful provider of browser-based sports games headquartered in Hamburg. Its portfolio includes the browser game “goalunited” with more than 1.8 million players, which since August 2009 has also sparked excitement as an official Sat.1 RAN – football manager product and has already received numerous awards. Moreover, the young company covers a further popular sport though its basketball manager “Ballersunited”, as well as very cleverly combining the character of a traditional sports manager game with a tactical trading card system.

Contact:
northworks Software GmbH
Sascha Kaddatz
Managing Director
Stahltwiete 23
22761 Hamburg
Phone:  +49 40 78107075
Fax: +49 40 78107074
s.kaddatz@northworks.de
www.northworks.de

About Travian Games GmbH:
Travian Games GmbH is a leading provider for browser-based online games headquartered in Munich. Travian Games develops more than simply games: the company offers complex and multi-layered worlds of experience which convince through their unique depth of gaming and guarantee the players total gaming fun. The home of the successful team of Travian Games is the online gaming market, and among other things it develops “massively multiplayer online games” (MMOs). All games can be played by thousands of users around the world at the same time without the need for lengthy or costly downloads – all that is needed is an internet connection and a web browser.

Contact:
Travian Games GmbH
Marcus Berg
Public Relations
Wilhelm-Wagenfeld-Straße 22
80807 Munich
Phone: +49 89 3249150
Fax: +49 89 324915970
m.berg@traviangames.com
www.traviangames.com

About DuMont Venture Holding GmbH & Co. KG:
DuMont Venture Holding GmbH & Co. KG was established as a subsidiary of Cologne-based publishing group M. DuMont Schauberg in 2007. DuMont Venture holds stakes in growth companies in the areas of digital media and IT and provides capital for development, market launch and international rollout.

Contact:
DuMont Venture Holding GmbH & Co. KG
Jörg Binnenbrücker
Managing Director
Amsterdamer Str. 192
50735 Cologne
Phone: +49 221 2242353
Fax: +49 221 224402353
joerg.binnenbruecker@dumontventure.de
www.dumontventure.de

About High-Tech Gründerfonds:
The High-Tech Gruenderfonds invests venture capital into young and innovative technology companies which turn promising new research results entrepreneurially into new businesses. With the help of seed financing from up to 500,000 Euro the start-up companies should lead their R&D projects to the point of an appropriation of a prototype and a “proof of concept” or even to the market launch. The High-Tech Gruenderfonds has a fund volume of about 272m Euro. Investors of the public-private partnership are the Federal Ministry for Economics and Technology, the KfW banking group as well as the six industrial groups BASF, Deutsche Telekom, Siemens, Robert Bosch, Daimler and Carl Zeiss.

Press Contact:
High-Tech Gründerfonds Management GmbH
Gabriela Fricke
Public Relations
Phone: +49 228 96568505
Fax: +49 228 96568550
g.fricke@high-tech-gruenderfonds.de
www.high-tech-gruenderfonds.de