Frontier Developments, six months after completing a successful Kickstarter for space sim sequel Elite: Dangerous, has announced that the company will roll the dice on the stock exchange. The company has applied for admission to the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) on the London stock exchange, a more loosely regulated set-up that allows smaller companies to float shares.
By doing this, Frontier Developments says it has raised an additional £4.0 million GBP in capital. Trading in Frontier shares will begin on 15 July. According to the press release about this, “Frontier is debt free, had £7.2 million of cash as at 31 May 2013, and has entered into a revolving credit facility with Barclays Bank plc for £3.0 million.” I’m not entirely sure what that last part means, but it’s some sort of loan I’d imagine.
The announcement of the Initial Public Offering (IPO) has met with a mixed response among Kickstarter backers. Many seem pleased that Frontier now has more cash to play with in making Elite: Dangerous, while others have expressed concerns about the inherent dangers of getting into bed with the stock market.
