Frontier float values video game firm at £39.4m

Video game company Frontier Developments, founded by Elite co-creator David Braben, has raised £4 million through its flotation on the Alternative Investment Market (Aim).

Cambridge-based Frontier, which also has a studio in Halifax, Canada, said the float proceeds would help it develop its Cobra software, which it hopes to license to other game companies.

Chief executive Braben wrote Elite with Ian Bell while at Cambridge University. First published in 1984 for the BBC Micro, the title went on to sell about one million copies.

Frontier is currently working on the latest instalment in the “space trading” series, Elite: Dangerous, which is expected to be released next year.

The company has £7.2m of cash, having raised £2.8m before its initial public offering (IPO), and has also agreed a £3m revolving credit facility with Barclays.

Today’s float values the company at £39.4m and Braben retains a 56.4 per cent stake in the business, which he founded in 1994.

He said: “I am delighted by the level of support Frontier has received and by the calibre of our investors, whose participation in our IPO is a strong endorsement of the growth potential we have identified.

“Frontier’s admission to Aim, along with the funding we secured earlier this year, will support our efforts to further enhance the capabilities of our technology platform Cobra as the expansion of games into the mainstream entertainment industry and advent of digital distribution provide significant opportunity to generate further growth.”