The News

WYPLAY SAS receives €4 million financing round from Sofinnova Partners

05/10/2006

Marseille, France, October 5, 2006 – WYPLAY SAS, a software and hardware company pioneering in the new home entertainment device market, has finalized a €4 million round of financing led by a premier European venture capital firm, Sofinnova Partners.

WYPLAY is a new actor in the battle for the living room. Wyplay has designed the most complete “Media Center” products on offer, with the most extended set of functionalities, at a very competitive price and simple end-user interface.

With its line of “Media Center” products, WYPLAY is addressing the digital home entertainment market valued in 2005 at $166 billion (BCC Research). This market is growing at an annual pace of 20%, animated by TV and PC convergence and boosted by the sales explosion of multimedia handheld devices and the increasing number of video on the internet and VoD offers.

“Satellite and terrestial operators have been challenged by ADSL operators which are looking for advanced and integrated products. Users want simple products and they want to renew their DVD-videotape-tuner equipment with an integrated and connected solution. WYPLAY has an excellent vision and a compelling roadmap of products, and that makes this investment a unique opportunity to establish an exciting and fast growing venture,” says Alain Rodermann, Partner at Paris-based Sofinnova Partners.

“We are delighted to welcome Sofinnova as investors in WYPLAY. This round of financing is a great vote of confidence in our technological achievements, business vision and strong management team. It brings us significant financial support but also a well established business partner which will help us to take advantage of the huge opportunities on this skyrocketing market,” says Jacques Bourgninaud, CEO of WYPLAY.

For further information, please contact:
Madeleine Resener
Media Relations, Sofinnova Partners
Tel:+33 (0) 6 20 41 39 82
mresener@sofinnova.fr
Dominique Feral
EVP Marketing, WYPLAY SAS
Tel: +33 (0) 491 457 180
Tel: +33 (0) 6 22 00 22 18
dferal@wyplay.com

About Sofinnova Partners
Founded in Paris in 1972, Sofinnova Partners is one of Europe's leading independent venture capital firms. With €900 million under management, Sofinnova Partners invests in start-ups and early-stage companies in information technology and life sciences. Its investment strategy consists of investing early in teams and projects with high potential, most often acting as lead or co-lead investor. Sofinnova Partners also benefits from a longestablished relationship with its sister company in San Francisco, Sofinnova Ventures. Sofinnova Partners’ teams consist of 13 professionals who bring market insight and technical expertise to portfolio companies.

About WYPLAY SAS
Founded in March 2006, Marseille-based WYPLAY SAS is a pioneer in the new Home Entertainment Device market. WYPLAY is acting on the rocketing TV centric market by providing amazing “all in one” boxes. WYPLAY’s solutions are replacing DVD Player/Burner, IP-Box, Set Top Box… and are bringing innovative services such as free telephony, VOD, Visio conference, multimedia jukebox, game station, mobile convergence…
For further information, please visit http://www.wyplay.com