Cross Platform Distribution Strategy to Ensure Interactive Music Technology is Readily Available in all Third-party Services, Applications and Music Formats

Paris, France, April 22, 2010 – MXP4, the leading developer of interactive music solutions, announced today a $4 million round of financing led by Orkos Capital and including previous investors Sofinnova Partners and Ventech. The financing reflects the appeal of MXP4’s interactive music solutions to brands, advertisers, media portals, mobile applications, music distribution platforms and third-party music formats. The funds will be used to accelerate the rollout of the MXP4 Everywhere roadmap, which ensures the interactive music technology is readily available in third party services, apps and music formats.

In the past year, more than 100 major recording artists including David Guetta, Michael Jackson and Britney Spears and major brands including Air France Music and Coca Cola have used MXP4 powered Web and iPhone interactive music apps to drive engagement, viral distribution and purchases. MXP4 data shows that fans use interactive music for an average of 9.1 minutes per track, drive 75% of traffic virally and click through to purchase as much as 3% of the time.

MXP4 is led by a team of music industry and digital media senior figures. MXP4 CEO Albin Serviant served as EVP & GM at Vivendi Mobile Entertainment and held senior positions at Musiwave (acquired by Microsoft), iBazar (acquired by eBay), Pepsi Co.and Sony. Board members include Gilles Babinet, who previously founded Musiwave (acquired by Microsoft) and now serves as chairman of the board, and JF Cecillon, formerly CEO of EMI Music International and currently Vice Chairman of Really Useful Group Holdings in London.

“By reinventing the way music is played with today and in the future, MXP4 is proving that interactive music is a real revenue opportunity for the music, media and marketing industries,” stated CEO Albin Serviant. “MXP4 brings to the music the experience the same benefits as 3D does for the movie industry.”

Gilles Babinet, Chairman of the board comments, “interactive music will leverage the whole music experience to create more value for both the consumer and the music industry.” 

Dominique Rencurel, Partner at Orkos Capital adds, "We strongly back up this ambitious project, lead by some of the most talented figures in the music and digital industry in the world capable of driving a paradigm shift in the music experience."

"Being alongside the company since its early days, we are happy to see MXP4 confirming its strong and unique position in the interactive music sector," comments Claire Houry, General Partner at Ventech.

Jean Claude Martinez, Venture Partner at Sofinnova Partners, concludes, "Fully behind MXP4 since the beginning, we have decided to confirm our commitment to MXP4, which demonstrates everyday a strong acknowledgement and buying of its innovative interactive music solutions."

MXP4’s solutions reinvent the single and album experiences by allowing fans to interact with songs and "play with" the music. With MXP4-powered music files, fans can make their own remixes of the songs, sing along to the tracks, strip down the song to listen to different instruments or listen to a brand new generation of digital Maxi Singles. 

About MXP4

MXP4 develops interactive music solutions that are changing the music experience for consumers by allowing them to play with the music. MXP4 to engage more closely with consumers and enables the music industry to explore new revenue opportunities. The company founders and board members were previous senior executives of Musiwave, Vivendi Mobile Entertainment, EMI Music and DivX. The company is backed by Sofinnova Partners and Ventech.

http://www.mxp4.com

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About Orkos Capital

Orkos Capital SAS (“Orkos”) is an independent private equity firm specializing in European communications technologies and services. The Orkos partners have invested 325M€ in 40 companies headquartered in 9 countries operating in more than 30 markets and have backed well known leaders like SES, Allocine.com, ONO, Musiwave, Cogent, Liligo.com. 

Further information available at www.orkoscapital.com

About Ventech

Ventech is a venture capital firm that, for more than a decade, has invested in recently formed companies or start-ups. These investments have focused more particularly on the Information Technology sector (software, hardware and communication, Internet, Media & Mobile) and Life Sciences, mainly in France and other European countries. With €365 million of assets under management, Ventech’s mission is to invest in ambitious projects to transform companies into leaders, enabling most of them to earn international recognition.

Ventech is also present in China through a partnership with China Merchant Hidden Jade (CMHJ), formed to help the European companies in its portfolio develop their business in Asia and to invest in the region via a dedicated fund.

For more information: www.ventechvc.com

About Sofinnova Partners

Sofinnova Partners is an independent venture capital firm based in Paris, France. For over 35 years, the firm has backed nearly 500 companies at different stages of development – pure creations, spin-offs, as well as turnaround situations – and worked alongside Europe’s key entrepreneurs in the technology, life sciences and cleantech sectors. With €1.1 billion of funds under management, Sofinnova Partners’ experienced team and hands-on approach in building portfolio companies through to exit have created market leaders, from landmark historical investments including Genentech, Actelion and Vistaprint to more recent successes such as CoreValve, Novexel, Fovea and Sensitive Object. With a global mindset, the firm has a sister organization in San Francisco, California. 

Please visit www.sofinnova.com for more information on Sofinnova’s team and portfolio.