SOPHIA-ANTIPOLIS, France, Sept. 15, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Frontrunner in social networks for digital heritage, ipernity (Paris:MLIPY) was listed on the Marche Libre of Euronext Paris on July 20, 2009, after raising EUR 1 million (USD 1.45 million) from private investors on June 15, 2009.
The 870,799 shares making up the offering were priced on the basis of a valuation of EUR 7.6 million (USD 11.1 million) and are listed under the name IPERNITY.ORG (ISIN: FR0010777680, ticker: MLIPY).
ipernity is a pioneer social network devoted to the long-term sharing and storage of media on the internet that enables its users to build on and enhance their digital heritage over time. Photos, videos, documents - ipernity provides its members with the ultimate home for all types of digital content where they can share and publish whatever they want, whenever they want.
Launched in April 2007, ipernity is currently available in 13 languages, already has over 120,000 members and hosts several million documents. In 2008, it was named "Best Photo Sharing Site" at the Open Web Awards, a global competition that reviews over 50,000 sites.
Users can sign up to ipernity for free after which members pay a monthly subscription (EUR 2 / USD 2.90), which forms the company's principal source of revenue. ipernity's 5-year target is to have over 600,000 paying subscribers and an operating margin of over 30%. The prepayment of subscriptions means that the company enjoys a structurally negative working capital requirement and generates significant cash flow. Detailed financial information is available at the following internet address: http://www.arkeonfinance.fr/ipernity-fr-0939-008.html (document in French).
Based in Sophia-Antipolis, France's own "Silicon Valley", ipernity was founded by Christophe Ruelle and Christian Conti, two captains of industry behind such successful French sites as Voila.fr (search engine), eStat.com (internet audience measurement) and Respublica (virtual community).
As Christophe Ruelle, Chairman of ipernity, explains: "Our goal is to develop a new and edifying concept that has a very promising future: digital heritage. The first funds raised will enable us to finance innovation, accelerate our growth dynamic and take our place amongst the leaders in European web services. The listing on the Marche Libre of Euronext Paris is a reflection of our commitment to our investors and to promoting and expanding our business."