BusinessMagazin

Tag: George Lemnaru

  • Lumea virtuala eRepublik numara peste un milion de cetateni

    Alexis Bonte, antreprenorul francez care se numara printre
    investitorii care au sustinut eRepublik, fiind posesorul pachetului
    majoritar de actiuni, a anuntat astazi ca lumea virtuala numara
    deja peste un milion de membri, la putin peste un an de la lansarea
    oficiala.

    “Cifra depaseste atat asteptarile noastre, cat si cele ale
    multor specialisti din industrie care ne-au spus de-a lungul
    timpului ca eRepublik nu va reusi sa atraga in prima faza mai mult
    de cateva zeci mii de utilizatori”, spune Alexis Bonte. “Mi s-a
    spus chiar ca un numar de 250.000 de membri ar fi numarul maxim pe
    care l-am putea atrage catre un asemenea joc.”

    eRepublik nu numai ca are deja peste un milion de cetateni, dar
    320.000 dintre acestia acceseaza lumea virtuala cu regularitate,
    mai mult de jumatate dintre acestia din urma fiind prezenti in joc
    in fiecare zi. Asta in conditiile in care, dupa spusele lui Bonte,
    versiunea actuala a eRepublik reprezinta doar aproximativ 30% din
    potential, echipa de 45 de programatori lucrand in permanenta la
    dezvoltarea si extinderea lumii virtuale.

    La jumatatea anului trecut, eRepublik a atras o investitie de
    doua milioane de euro din partea fondului francez AGF Private
    Equity, membru al Allianz Group, prin intermediul unei infuzii de
    capital. In 2008, acelasi fond a preluat 4% din actiunile companiei
    in schimbul a 200.000 de euro, iar Bonte s-a implicat in a doua
    runda de finantare cu 150.000 de euro, dupa ce cu cateva luni
    inainte investise 200.000 de euro alaturi de alti opt investitori
    de tip “business angel”. In total, eRepublik a inghitit 2,75 de
    milioane de euro, fiind evaluat la cel putin 5 milioane de
    euro.

  • A World Without Crisis

    French fund AGF Private Equity, part of the Allianz Group, financed the eRepublik Labs with two million euros, the company behind the eRepublik virtual game developed by Romanian George Lemnaru, through a capital inflow, thus taking over an unspecified minority interest, with the shares issued precisely to make the deal possible.

    The two companies, however, started working together a year ago, when AGF Private Equity made its first investment, 200,000 euros in exchange for 4% in eRepublik. One of the smallest in its entire history, if we take into account the investments owns a portfolio that exceeds 2.5 billion euros, of which 20% directed to 60 IT&C and Internet companies. One might say that the first investment was an experiment, followed up with a ten times higher funding. ”Sometimes we invest in the first stages of the development of a company that has potential, and eRepublik is one of them; this new transaction confirms the bet on the virtual world,” says Guillaume Lautour, member in the companyís board of directors. Also in June 2008, Alexis Bonte, majority shareholder and chief executive of the company invested another 150,000 euros, besides the 200,000 he contributed as start-up capital, thus boosting his stake to 70%. At that moment eight entrepreneurs and business-angel type investors, among which two Romanians who had been living in France for a long time, joined the shareholders of the business. The total investment in eRepublik so far exceeds 2.75 million euros. In figures, last year’s deal, 11% in the company for 550,000 euros, means eRepublik has reached a value of 5 million euros, which makes it the most valuable website in Romania. ”Yet the current financing was based on a higher than initially assigned evaluation,” Bonte says.

    ”I believe the only investments that stand chances over the coming period are particularly those made online,” believes Vlad Stan, founder of SeedMoney, a kind of an investment fund that provides up to 50,000 euro support to new online projects, in exchange for a minority interest. It should be made clear though that a good online business does not mean adjusting a known international project such as YouTube for instance, or in this case the Second Life virtual world, to a small scale, but the exact opposite, developing a local project towards global reach. And the economic crisis is, in Alexis Bonte’s opinion, one of the best moments to invest in a start-up company, which tends to be more stable unlike the foreign capital markets, which are extremely volatile, or the big companies, which are going through a rough time and have to streamline.

    ”The two millions euros received from AGF Private Equity will be used over the next twelve months in order to develop each component of the game in greater detail,” says Alexis Bonte, explaining why so much money was needed for a platform that has expanded with investments of approximately 750,000 euros over the last two years. ”At this moment, the game is only 25% of what it will be as a result of the investments. In five years it could become the World of Warcraft of virtual worlds,” Bonte says. Subsequently, eRepublik will integrate a much more tactical combat system, while for the political component Lemnaru wants to develop a number of personalised administration types for each of the sixty countries in the game so that monarchy and dictatorship could be alternatives to the existing semi-parliamentary democracies.