Argo Interactive Plc, an Internet service provider and network computer communications software and consultancy firm based in the UK, has became the second European company to offer shares on the Internet this month – the first was Euroseek AB (CI No 3,116) – and is one of the few start-ups to have tied its future to that of the Network Computer. The company develops Oracle database software for Unix and NT servers it calls Nectar, to make them able to communicate with Network Computers. Some 80% of Argo’s work is done on ARM RISC chip-based servers, which stems from its alliances with Network Computer builders Acorn Computer Group Plc and Oracle Corp, who are both using Acorn unit Advanced RISC Technologies Inc’s ARM RISC chips for their Network Computers. Argo also has an agreement with an undisclosed large UK-based consumer electronics firm that will be releasing a Network Computer for the consumer market before summer. The firm is offering 1 million shares on the Internet at 60 pence per share, to raise 600,000 pounds. The offer is open to European Economic Community citizens only, and the minimum investment required is 300 pounds. Argo made a similar offering last May, when it managed to raise 300,000 pounds. The company expects to float on either the Alternative Investment Market or the unregulated Ofex market within a year.
