OSLO, Norway--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 27, 2004--Funcom NV, a leading developer and publisher of computer and console games, announced today that it has secured a EUR 4.5M million equity investment from a consortium of Northzone Ventures (EUR 3.5 million) and existing investors Teknoinvest and Stelt Holding. The investment enables Funcom to further increase the scope and quality of their future Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOG), while expanding Funcom's sales and marketing capabilities globally.

"We have already proven that we are a world leading MMOG developer with Anarchy Online" says Funcom's CEO and President Trond Arne Aas, and continues "Anarchy Online is today a profitable game. The financing from Stelt, Northzone and Teknoinvest will enable us to further increase our investment in the development of the next generation online games and to become even better at what we excel at; creating unique and immersive virtual worlds for a global market of consumers".

Torleif Ahlsand, Partner in Northzone Ventures and new Chairman of the Board of Directors, said,: "The MMOG genre is currently the fastest growing segment within the expanding gaming industry, and offers several attractive attributes, including the monthly subscription revenue model, a global market potential, expanding demographics and low risk of piracy. We are impressed by the high calibre of the Funcom team, and feel confident in their ability to develop new world-class games".

Funcom is now developing three MMOG's, one of them being the successful Anarchy Online which is the subject of ongoing development.