Atevia

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Atevia AG

logo
legal form Corporation
ISIN DE000CMBT111
founding 2008
Seat Karlsruhe , Germany
management Michael Greve, CEO
Number of employees 4 (2012)
sales 1.5 million (2012)
Branch Investment company ( software )
Website www.atevia.de

The kizoo AG is a development and investment company focusing on Internet services and digital communication based in Karlsruhe and successor of Kizoo AG. Kizoo AG was the successor company of ComBOTS AG, the manufacturer of communication software of the same name.

Company history

Atevia AG, which was initially called Kizoo AG, emerged on May 6, 2008 from ComBOTS AG, which only existed for one year. ComBOTS AG was a company that was renamed WEB.DE AG. With effect from October 31, 2005, the WEB.DE portal business was sold to United Internet AG as one of the two business fields of WEB.DE AG . The second business area, telecommunications, remained in WEB.DE AG. Since the web.de brand was also sold with the portal business , the remaining WEB.DE AG was obliged to rename itself. The Management Board justified the sale of the portal business with the aim of creating the financial means to focus completely on telecommunications services and "the next generation of communication" . Later it became known that ComBOTS is aiming for world market leadership in the field of personal digital communication .

The stock exchange abbreviation was changed in December 2005. Combots had the abbreviation CMBT and was listed on the TecDAX until September 2006 . The market capitalization on June 30, 2006 was 452 million euros, the company's cash and cash equivalents, according to the company's own statements, were around 450 million euros. In March 2009, the market capitalization was around EUR 126.2 million.

As of March 24, 2009, the owners of the AG were Cinetic Medientechnik GmbH , Karlsruhe, owned by Matthias and Michael Greve with 68.07% and Master Hedge Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH , Frankfurt am Main with 3.01%. 28.92% were in free float.

On October 14, 2009 it was announced that Kizoo AG had applied for a change in the company's listing from the Prime Standard of the regulated market to the General Standard of the regulated market of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. This is intended to avoid the additional expense associated with listing on the Prime Standard, which is not justified in relation to the achievable benefit. In November 2012, it was admitted to the m: access segment of the Munich Stock Exchange , and admission to the regulated market in Frankfurt was then given up.

On June 13, 2012, the company announced the registration of the change of name from Kizoo AG to Atevia AG on June 5, 2012 in a press release.

In February 2016, the Karlsruhe company Cinetic Gesellschaft zur Entwicklung und Vertrieb von Medientechnik mbH, as the majority shareholder with more than 95% of the shares in Atevia AG, announced that they were aiming for a squeeze-out . As a result, the shares of the minority owners should be transferred to Cinetic in return for cash compensation. In May 2016, Cinetic GmbH set the compensation per share at EUR 7.13 and completed the takeover in August 2016 with the entry of the squeeze-out in the commercial register. The listing of the shares of Atevia AG in the trading segment m: access of the Munich Stock Exchange and the inclusion of the shares in the open market ends.

ComBOTS

Old ComBOTS logo

The software

On the day of the annual general meeting, July 13, 2006, the only ComBOTS AG product was presented. For a long time it was only known that they worked with the industrial design company frog design and that their own software is protected by - depending on the source - 20 to 50 national and international basic patents. The official market launch took place at IFA Berlin in September 2006, but contrary to previous announcements in a public beta version . There are parallels to the predecessor product of Web.de AG ComWin, which was supposed to usher in "a new age in Internet communication" in October 2002 and was discontinued by United Internet in November 2006 because it "did not address the mass market" .

The basic philosophy behind the instant messaging product was to be able to communicate quickly and easily (one-click strategy). In addition to being spam and virus-free (communication only after personal invitation via the ComBOTS server, receipt of the invitation by email ), the use of drag-and-drop technology was a distinctive feature of ComBOTS. In addition to VoIP phone calls, it was also possible to exchange large files, emotions and messages (e.g. chatting). In the surface were in the Manga -held style Avatars integrated that were animated. This was used to interact with other users and convey emotions. Avatar and emotion sets could be purchased from the ComBOTS shop.

ComBOTS was only available for the Windows XP and Vista operating systems and the Symbian Series 60 smartphone operating system. Versions for other operating systems were not made available.

Business strategy

According to its own statements, ComBOTS AG itself expected up to 100 million users worldwide in a “short time” and was aiming to become the world's largest provider of personal digital communication within seven years . The main communicated target audience for the product was teenage female users. The software should be distributed without advertising and only through word of mouth. In doing so, the mandatory subscription fees, which were initially intended, were dispensed with and the term FriendlyWare was created. At the discretion of the user, the product can be tested for as long as desired. If you like it and use it regularly, you should take out a subscription.

The stock exchange reacted to the presentation of the first details about the new product (during the general meeting of ComBOTS AG on July 13, 2006) with the sale of ComBOTS AG shares. Within a few days, the share price fell by more than 25%. It was unclear whether and how a paid communication service could prevail over the competition ( ICQ, etc.) with free products that had already been established by then . In addition, according to the quarterly report in October 2006, expenses of € 13.4 million for the period July to September were offset by income of € 0.0 million.

In the first quarter of 2007 the company did not show any sales either. In July 2007 the program had about 30,000 users.

Realignment

On September 25, 2007 it was decided not to further develop the ComBOTS service for the time being and to realign itself. One month later, on October 26th, 2007, the press announced that ComBOTS wanted to discontinue the service. On October 29, 2007 ComBOTS informed the users that the communication service would be discontinued and would no longer be operated. The reason given for discontinuing operations was the insufficient number of users. From November 1, 2007, it was no longer possible to establish a connection with this service, which means that the software can no longer be used effectively. With VideoWeb, the owners brought a set-top box onto the market that is supposed to bring TV and Internet together. However, almost all TV manufacturers are now permanently building similar systems into their higher-quality devices.

Kizoo Ventures

Historical logo

Since the realignment and discontinuation of ComBOTS, Kizoo AG has concentrated on investing in technology-oriented companies. The focus is primarily on seed and early-stage financing as a component of classic venture capital . So far, Kizoo AG has been involved in nine companies, including Hojoki, Reposito and MegaZebra . Since the name was changed to Atevia AG, the focus has shifted to managing your own assets with a focus on real estate.

Kizoo AG traded under the name Atevia AG from June 5, 2016.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. a b Annual Report 2012 (PDF; 388 kB)
  2. Kizoo AG: Ad hoc announcement according to §15 WpHG: Kizoo AG applies for a change to the General Standard of Deutsche Börse. October 14, 2009, accessed March 28, 2010 .
  3. Ad-hoc: Munich Stock Exchange approves the application to change the listing in m: access. atevia ag, November 30, 2012, accessed on May 10, 2015 .
  4. kizoo AG: registration of the change of name from Kizoo AG in kizoo AG. June 13, 2012, accessed March 8, 2013 .
  5. CINETIC Society for Development and Sales of Medientechnik mbH announces Squeeze Out at Atevia AG. DGAP News, February 17, 2016, accessed September 7, 2016 .
  6. Atevia AG: CINETIC specifies the squeeze-out request and set the cash compensation at EUR 7.13. Onvista , May 4, 2016, accessed September 7, 2016 .
  7. DGAP-Adhoc: Atevia AG: Squeeze-out decision entered in the commercial register. (No longer available online.) DGAP, August 29, 2016, archived from the original on September 14, 2016 ; accessed on September 7, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.presseportal.de
  8. Quarterly and nine-month reports as of September 30, 2006 (PDF; 584 kB)
  9. ^ Missionary on our own behalf , Technology Review 09/2007
  10. ^ Message about the end of ComBOTS at TecChannel
  11. About the company Kizoo AG
  12. Shareholdings of Kizoo AG
  13. kizoo AG: Company. June 13, 2012, accessed March 12, 2013 .
  14. Registration of the change of name from Kizoo AG to Atevia AG. Press release, June 13, 2012, accessed September 7, 2016 .