Paris, France and Munich, Germany– March 30, 2006

glowria, the French leader in on-line DVD rental, announced today that it had closed a third round of funding of $4.8 million and purchased the third largest on-line DVD rental company in Germany, DiViDi Entertainment GmbH (DiViDi).  The acquisition makes glowria the #1 market player in continental Europe. Long-time glowria investor SPEF Ventures was joined in this third round by new investor Credit Agricole Private Equity (CAPE): each invested $2.4 million, bringing glowria's total funding to $15 million.  The new capital will also speed glowria's plans to roll out Video on Demand (VoD) in France and Germany. 

glowria, which features the largest DVD rental catalogue in France with over 10,000 titles, is already the number one on-line DVD rental company in France.  The acquisition allows DiViDi to benefit from glowria's knowledge and experience in IT, logistics, catalogue and rights acquisition, and marketing, as well as glowria's operational expertise and access to capital, providing superior service to German customers.  glowria plans to roll out VoD in Germany later this year.

Founded in 2003 in Munich, DiViDi is the number 3 player in the German market, has a catalogue of 7000 titles.  It has grown organically and through acquisition:  in 2005, DiViDi acquired DVD-Leihen, a small DVD rental company.  DiViDi shares many of glowria's guiding principles and audiences:  DiViDi is the only German service to offer, like glowria and US giant Netflix, unlimited, all-fees-included subscription DVD rental plans. DiViDi has a strong partnership base, including ADAC, the German Automobile Club, with 15 million members, and ProSiebenSat1, a key German satellite operator.

Although specifics of the deal were not disclosed, Glow Entertainment Group SA acquired 100% of the shares of DiViDi Entertainment GmbH.  Frederic Baschet, Vice President of International Acquisitions, glowria, will serve as interim country manager until a permanent local country manager is put in place.

"This latest round of funding allows us to strengthen our position as a European leader in online digital video entertainment, be it online DVD rental or VoD," explained Mihai Crasneanu, founder and CEO of glowria.  "The German market is the most important in Continental Europe, and we have entered it with a strong player that shares the same values as glowria."     

Through its extensive revenue-sharing partnerships with all the major movie studios and vast majority of independent video distributors, glowria has been able to control subscriber acquisition costs and optimise stock acquisition costs, thus offering excellent quality of service and the highest stock availability in the European market, which translates into low churn.  As both a partner on the Intel® ViiV™ platform and as an editor of its own distribution software, glowria has entered the VoD market, thus becoming the “one stop shop” for all digital entertainment needs. 

ABOUT GLOWRIA
Founded in 2001, glowria is the leading online DVD rental service in France.  It features the largest catalogue of titles, a wide range of subscription options, no late fees, and does not provide adult films.  For more information about glowria, please visit www.glowria.fr.

ABOUT SPEF VENTURES
SPEF Venture, a subsidiary of Natexis Private Equity, is one of the premier venture capital funds in France with more than 300M€ under management and nearly 80 portfolio companies in industries such as, amongst others, telecommunications, semiconductors, computer software, e-commerce, security and life sciences.  With a team of 15 professionals, SPEF Venture guides portfolio companies through all stages of their development, and brings to bear its expertise to help the management of each portfolio company team create breakthrough companies.  For more information, please visit www.spef-venture.fr.

ABOUT CREDIT AGRICOLE PRIVATE EQUITY
Crédit Agricole Private Equity is an AMF-accredited asset management subsidiary of Crédit Agricole SA, specialising in private equity investment in non-listed companies.  A team of thirty experts in four divisions (Later-Stage Financing & LBO, Venture Capital, Secondary Market, and Mezzanine) manages €1.4 billion in the form of FCPR, FCPI and private equity companies (SCR).  Crédit Agricole Private Equity enables corporate managers to implement their growth plans.  www.ca-privateequity.com

 
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