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Monumental secures £2million investment in first funding round

January 21, 2010

Monumental Games, the specialist online game developer behind the Monumental Technology Suite and titles such as MotoGP 09/10 and Football Superstars, has secured £2million in investment. The backing comes from Maven Capital Partners, joint manager of the Capital for Enterprise (“CfE”) fund.

Headquartered in Nottingham (UK), Monumental Games owns and operates proprietary technology for the creation of Massively-Multiplayer Online Games (MMOs). In 2009, the company won the Fast Growth Business Award for Innovation.

The £75 million CfE Fund is a government initiative launched earlier this year to help small and medium size enterprises in the UK gain access to the financial support required to bridge the funding gap caused by the credit crisis. In April 2009, it was announced that £60 million from the CfE Fund would be allocated to two separate £30 million funds, one of which is managed by Maven. A further £15 million is being managed as a co-investment fund by Capital for Enterprise Fund Managers.

Having secured the £2million of development capital, Monumental Games will be recruiting a Non-Executive Chairman to assist the CEO in developing and implementing the company’s growth strategy and to liaise with the company’s stakeholder groups.

Executive quote

“This investment is a major milestone in the evolution of Monumental Games, and a vindication of our decision to focus on this market space,” said Monumental’s CEO, Rik Alexander. “We will use this capital to develop our technology to better serve our teams, develop our skills and further cement our relationships with our publishing partners. It gives us the opportunity to consolidate our growth to date and to pursue some exciting opportunities moving forward.”

Speaking of Maven CP, Rik Alexander said, “It’s been a real pleasure working through the investment process with Maven – they understand what we’re about and have been helpful throughout.”

About the company

About Monumental
Headquartered in Nottingham (UK), Monumental Games owns and operates proprietary technology for the creation of Massively-Multiplayer Online Games (MMOs). Monumental was founded in 2005 by industry veterans Rik Alexander and Rocco Loscalzo, and is the developer behind MotoGP 09/10 (Capcom), Football Superstars (Cybersports) and Hunter’s World (Monumental’s own IP). Monumental has over 100 staff employed across three studios worldwide.

About the Capital for Enterprise Fund
The Capital for Enterprise Fund (“the Fund”) comprises £75 million of equity, made up of £50m of Government funds and an additional £25 million from retail banks Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds TSB and RBS. The purpose of the fund is to provide equity and quasi equity of between £200,000 and £2 million to small- and medium-sized British companies with viable business models and growth potential in need of long term capital.

£60 million of the Fund is managed by professional experienced fund managers, Octopus Investments and Maven Capital Partners UK (formerly Aberdeen Asset Managers). Each company oversees the management of a £30 million fund. The remaining £15 million will be invested directly by, Capital for Enterprise Fund Managers, on a co-investment basis.

About Capital for Enterprise Limited (www.capitalforenterprise.gov.uk<http://www.capitalforenterprise.gov.uk/> )
Capital for Enterprise Fund Managers Limited (‘CfEFML’) is a subsidiary of Capital for Enterprise Limited (‘CfEL’), an asset management business that designs, implements and manages finance measures to support Small and Medium Size Enterprises (‘SMEs’) across the UK. CfEL is the largest single investor in UK Early Stage Venture Capital funds and manages guarantee programmes to support bank lending. With current investment commitments of over £365 million in 37 Venture Capital funds, together with its responsibility for the Small Firms Loan Guarantee scheme and the £1.3 billion Enterprise Finance Guarantee, CfEL has over £2.0 billion in commitments, assets and liabilities under management.

CfEL commenced trading in April 2008 and is wholly owned by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). The business is managed by an independent Board of Directors, drawn from across industry and finance, and has 14 full-time expert staff as well retaining specialist consultants and other professionals as required.

Contact details

For further information contact:
Monumental Games – Paul Mayze, paulm@monumentalgames.com, +44 (0)115 934 2330
Maven Capital Partners – Steve Marshall, steve.marshall@mavencp.com, +44 (0)141 306 7585
Maven Capital Partners – Andrew Ferguson, Andrew.ferguson@mavencp.com, +44 (0)121 503 2250
Capital for Enterprise Fund Managers Limited – Sam Hardy, sam.hardy@champollion.co.uk, +44 (0) 207 131 3608

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Monumental secures £2million investment in first funding round

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