Credit Agricole Invests in Stonfield InWorld

Credit Agricole Mutuel Pyrenees Gascogne and Credit Agricole’s National Federation have invested an undisclosed amount for 50% of the company in virtual world developer Stonfield InWorld, a self-described "small, European Million of Us. However, Stonfield, which will maintain independent management, already boasts a client list including  IBM, Credit Agricole, Publicis, ENST, and REUNICA. Currently Stonfield InWorld deals mostly with European brands or brands with headquarters in Europe. However, "The Credit Agricole investment will give us more visibility, I hope!" said Stonfield InWorld Co-Founder Pierre-Olivier Carles in an  online chat this morning.

"We are a services company," said Carles. "We want to be able to provide solutions, not related to a specific technology (even if Second Life is, of course, the most useful at this time). So we are more working on tailor-made solutions instead of products. But to be honest, specially on e-Trade, I guess we will have to create some missing bricks. But we try to use existing technology and focus on methodology."

The company's focus right now is on e-Trade and e-Learning solutions. There are plenty of companies interested in using Second Life as a training platform in the States, but it seems like more look to private virtual worlds when developing serious games.

"Working with public worlds is the only way to have a "state of the art" technology (that does not mean mature!)," said Carles. "So it's easier to work with a public one and to close the part we need. By the way, we can propose mixed solution... At this time, we are working on an Immersive Training Center, that we will use for different companies. We can imagine opening it to SOHO workers or Freelancers.... For that, we need to use public virtual worlds such as Second Life."

 

Stonfield is currently discussing a pilot program with an international industry company to train 2000 people through Second Life, and Carles says he will have "something really new" in e-Trade within two weeks.

While Stonfield InWorld is investigating work within  Multiverse, Second Life, There.com, HipiHi, World of Warcraft, and Kaneva, it has so far only developed projects in Second Life and World of Warcraft, which it uses to run team-building sessions in partnership with Stonfield Team Services.

It plans on taking Credit Agricole's  industrial vision and customer experience to build to bigger markets--"where the value for the client is something else than marketing"--for virtual world development.

"We are the first company (in France for sure, but I think in Europe) to have the funding and the 'know how'...," said Carles. "So we would like to be the leaders in virtual world services in France of course, but in Europe too. That's the reason why we should set up offices in Spain soon."

PRESS RELEASE

Credit Agricole Mutuel Pyrenees Gascogne and Credit Agricole’s National Federation invest in Stonfield InWorld, the French specialist in Virtual Worlds
France, Oloron-Sainte-Marie (64), Sept 14th 2007: The Credit Agricole Mutuel Pyrenees Gascogne and Stonfield InWorld have decided to associate their financial and technological forces.

This agreement includes an entry into the capital by the "Caisse Pyrenees Gascogne" but also by the Credit Agricole's National Federation, which are preparing to take part around the round table.
Stonfield InWorld is a company created in Oloron-Sainte-Marie (64), also established in Neuilly-sur-Seine (92) and Toulouse (31), that became in a few months an main actor in Virtual Worlds business (Second Life, There.com, Kaneva, Multiverse…). They design for companies of any size and all sectors, comprehensive solutions of integration between Internet and the virtual worlds for their development strategy.

The company will concentrate its development and its services on online sales (e-Trade) and on training (e-Larning), in order to make them the growing points to strong added value for its customers on the Virtual Worlds.

On the other side, the Credit Agricole's National Federation have already five islands on Second Life, which allows the whole of the regional Agencies to show their organizations and to enter a "mutualism 2.0". The Credit Agricole Mutuel Pyrenees Gascogne have also invested to in these new ways communication and relation with its customers by creating several blogs on its lefil.com site and two spaces of reception on Second Life.

The Credit Agricole National Federation, the Credit Agricole Mutuel Pyrenees Gascogne and Stonfield InWorld share the conviction that the virtual universes are already starting to revolutionize our uses of the Internet.

Contacts :
Pierre-Olivier Carles : pc@stonfield.com
Tél. : +33 6 80 07 48 76 - http ://www.stonfield-inworld.com
Véronique Meynard : veronique.meynard@lefil.com
Tél. : +33 6 80 62 50 86 - http://www.lefil.com