Gaming specialist Antix has received $3 million (£1.8 million) from investors including NorthStar Equity Investors (NSEI) and Hotspur Capital.

Gaming specialist Antix has received $3 million (£1.8 million) from investors including NorthStar Equity Investors (NSEI) and Hotspur Capital.

The company’s founder and CEO, Francis Charig, also contributed to the funding round, which improves Antix’s working capital position in preparation for the launch of its product into the mainstream consumer market later this year.

Antix, which has offices in Northumberland, Reading and Berkshire, has developed software enabling games to be “shared” across different devices, including mobile phones and computers.

Charig observes, ‘At present, while consumers can buy and then share music and video, they can’t do that with games unless their friends are using an identical device. It’s an unnecessary restriction that limits the industry’s growth.’

Alasdair Greig, investment manager at NSEI, comments, ‘The Antix Game Player is an innovative and differentiated product with considerable market pull and a clear potential to transform the mobile games industry.’

NSEI is supporting the company through its Co-Investment Fund, which is partly backed by EU money and makes investments of between £100,000 and £500,000 in technology companies in the North East of England.