ATEME announces a 4 million Euro investment by XAnge Private Equity and Ventech

- ATEME, the world-leading video compression provider for FPGA, DSP and PC, today announced that it has closed a 4 million Euro round of financing with XAnge Private Equity and Ventech.

The proceeds will enable ATEME to maintain and enhance its technological advance in leading edge video compression. Research and Development activities will thus benefit from increased resources.
This funding will also support ATEME’s international expansion. Thanks to its subsidiaries located in Montreal (Canada) and Tokyo (Japan), and its distribution network covering Europe, North America and Asia, ATEME’s export activities reached 45% of its total turnover for the fiscal year 2005.

”XAnge and Ventech are renowned investors, especially in the Information Technology sector. This investment will enable ATEME to accelerate the development of our service and product businesses and enlarge our customer reach in Asia and North America. The next ATEME subsidiary will shortly open in the Silicon Valley”, said Michel Artières, CEO of ATEME. The ratio of export sales should reach 60% of the company’s total turnover in 2006.

Founded in 1991 and headquartered in France, ATEME is an expert in the field of advanced video compression technology, valuable partner of major silicon vendors. Its leadership in MPEG-4 encoding results from a continuous research effort during the last few years. Today, ATEME’s unrivalled products represent a guarantee of superior visual quality while maintaining low bandwidth.

«We were impressed by the quality and performance of Ateme’s video compression technologies. This already well-established company owns a unique expertise and perfectly fits with our investment strategy, consisting in the support of leading and expanding technological companies», said Hervé Schricke - President of XAnge Private Equity.

ATEME’s portfolio includes a range of video compression IPs: MPEG-4 AVC/H.264, MPEG-4, WM9 / VC1, development platforms, production-ready designs. The various product ranges have been designed with broadcast / broadband, video security or streaming media concerns in mind and are particularly appreciated by the largest players in these markets.

"As shown by the recent acquisition of Scientific-Atlanta by Cisco, the two worlds of datacoms and consumer electronics are clearly colliding and this is creating many opportunities for new high-growth businesses. The development of video over IP networks will be one key application and ATEME has the widely-recognized products and know-how to be a leading player in the compelling segment of MPEG-4 signal processing", foretells Jean Bourcereau - General Partner, Ventech.

About XAnge :

Since the inception of XAnge Private Equity in July 2004, within the context of the merger of the activities initiated by XAnge Capital and those of ABN Amro France in the venture capital area, XAnge brings together (under one denomination and with a single team), the portfolio management company XAnge Private Equity and the Venture Capital Corporation (VCC) XAnge Capital.
XAnge benefits from the expertise and networks of the shareholders of the two entities; in particular from La Poste, Alten, Deloitte & Touche, Laser (Galeries Lafayette Group) and Neopost for the VCC, as well as from ABN Amro. XAnge thus develops a close relationship between large services groups, industrials and financial players, as well as a high quality international opening.
XAnge Private Equity manages 8 third-party FCPI (retail funded) funds, with a total subscribed amount exceeding €120M, that invest in technology and innovation led companies with a multi sector logic. XAnge Private Equity also advises XAnge Capital, a sector dedicated VCC with €50M under management, that invests in businesses connected to postal activities.
When the investment criteria meet, the VCC and the FCPI co-invest in the same companies.

About Ventech :

Ventech is a French venture capital firm managing € 174 M and investing in early stage high tech companies. Ventech focuses on promising ventures in the area of IT & Communications and Biotechnologies in France and Continental Europe.
Our mission is to invest in ambitious projects with the potential to become global leaders. Targeting a hands-on approach, our team is gathering highly complementary skills, built through international experiences in operations and private equity, in start-up companies and high-growth businesses.
   
About ATEME :

ATEME (www.ateme.com) is a world-leading provider of advanced video compression technology: H.264, MPEG-4, and WM9. Its expertise is available through IP cores for FPGA, DSP and PC libraries, development platforms, production-ready designs and custom services: A/V consulting, HW design, IPs customization, SW integration... The superior quality of its encoding IPs and the interoperability of its codecs have been widely recognized by both independent testing and customers’ benchmarks and make them the best choice for pro AV applications, streaming media and video security.