Avanquest

Avanquest Software
Traded as Euronext: AVQ
Industry Software developer
Founded 1984
Key people
 Pierre Cesarini, Group CEO, Roger Bloxberg, CEO of Avanquest North America, Todd Helfstein, President of Avanquest North America
Products Fix-It Utilities, System Suite, PrintArtist, Photo Explosion, Hallmark Card Studio
Website www.avanquest.com

Avanquest Software is a business unit of Avanquest S.A., a French-based multinational, publicly traded corporation headquartered in La Garenne-Colombes, France. The company designs, develops, publishes and distributes a wide range of software applications for Microsoft Windows and Macintosh OS X operating systems and for iOS and Android mobile devices.

The company was founded in May 1984 and has eight offices in the United States, Canada, China, France, Germany and the United Kingdom. The company is best known for its system utility software, including Fix-It Utilities and System Suite, and for its home graphics titles, which include PrintArtist, Photo Explosion and Hallmark Card Studio.

History

Avanquest Software was founded as BVRP Software in 1984 as one of the first technology companies to be established in France. It saw early commercial successes in the form of Directory, a personal file management program, and Compatest, compatibility testing software.

The company reached a turning point in 1995 with its introduction of WinFax, which became a worldwide bestseller and standard for sending and receiving faxes on PCs. Several telephony titles followed, including the introduction of Mobile Phone Tools in 2002.

The success of its telephony titles opened the way for an initial public offering on the Paris stock exchange and the company’s first international office, in Denver, Colorado, in 1996. The company opened additional offices as follows: the United Kingdom in 1998, China in 2002, Germany in 2003, Italy in 2005 and Canada in 2011.

In 2007 Avanquest Software strengthened its international presence with the acquisition of Calabasas, California-based Nova Development, one of the world’s largest broadline publishers of consumer software products. This prompted a February 2008 award: the “Best European Company” prize in the category of Cross-border Mergers & Acquisitions.[1] Other acquisitions ensued, including that of MicroApp, France’s leading consumer software publisher, in 2011.

Today the company is one of the largest consumer software publishers worldwide and offers products on all key platforms across a broad spectrum of market niches, from image editing and education to home design and casual games.[2]

Products

In the United States the company is best known for the following PC software product lines:

System Utility Software

Home Graphics Software

Small Business Software

Educational Software

Other Software

Sales Channels

Retail: Avanquest Software sells its PC software products through a network of more than 15,000 storefront retail outlets worldwide, as well as through etailers and mail order catalogue companies. The network includes Walmart, Best Buy and Staples in the United States; PC World and Game in the United Kingdom; Fnac in France; and Media Markt Media Markt in Germany.

Direct: The company has a thriving e-commerce business that has comprised a larger concentration of its revenues each year since 2009. It sells its software products both as downloads and as physical goods via its websites, which include Avanquest.com, NovaDevelopment.com and SoftCity in the United States; Avanquest.co.uk in the United Kingdom; Avanquest.fr in France; and Avanquest.de in Germany.

Strategic Sales and OEM: Avanquest Software offers its mobility/telephony products to handset manufacturers for in-pack bundling. The company also offers software products and software product compilations to manufacturers of other consumer hardware products to enhance the value of their offerings.

References

  1. ↑ EuroInvestor
  2. ↑ Forbes
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