NEWS &
HIGHLIGHTS

Play Ventures announces Fund I Performance: 1.5x returned in less than 4 years

Play Ventures is proud to announce industry-leading returns out of our debut Fund I. In less than 4 years, we returned 1.5x to investors in distributed capital (DPI). With 20 companies remaining in the portfolio and 6 years to go in the fund lifetime, that figure is set to further increase significantly.

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Social First Raises $2.5M Pre-Seed For Their Social First Multiplayer Vision

Play Ventures is excited to kick off 2022 with a new addition to our portfolio. Congratulations to founders Kim Soares and Mikko Kähärä, and their veteran team with experience from Ubisoft, Kukouri, and Paradox Interactive! We're very happy to have led their $2.5M Pre-Seed round, and together with Joakim Achrén, look forward to them bringing their vision of social-first, multiplayer, games that can be enjoyed for decades, to life.

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Mod.io Raises $26M Series A Led by Tencent

Huge congrats to the mod.io team for raising a $26M Series A for their platform enabling user-generated content (UGC) for creator-driven gaming communities worldwide. Play Ventures originally backed the team back in 2019 and have been immensely impressed by what they've achieved since - powering mods for 80 games on 11 platforms, with 1M mods created and downloaded 177M times in 2021.

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Ex Pixonic Execs Found Kek Entertainment, Raise $3M Pre-Seed

Play Ventures is proud to be backing Kek Entertainment in their $3 million pre-seed funding round, alongside The Games Fund. Former Pixonic executives Georgy and Oleg founded the Cyprus-Moscow studio, which is going after the multiplayer mobile game market.

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Order of Meta Raises $1.5M For Mobile Shooter

We are happy to share that we have invested in Helsinki-Kaliningrad company 'Order of Meta'. The team has raised a $1.5M pre-seed to build their first title, a mobile shooter game. The team is led by second-time founders Alexey Sazonov and Sergey Kozyakov, who founded mobile game studio Panzerdog (acquired by Mail.ru) where they developed and published Tacticool, a top-down shooter game with over 20 million downloads. Play is excited to be onboard their second entrepreneurship journey!

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Facemoji raises $3M from Play Ventures, Twitter, and more, to launch its free SDKs

The Play team is thrilled to be backing Facemoji, an avatar technology company. Their $3M seed round was led by Play Ventures, and Twitter, Roosh Ventures (behind the popular app ‘“Reface”), Abe Burns, gaming veterans Eric Seufert, Chris Lee, and others, also participated. The Facemoji SDK and Figma-like 3D content creator with an NFT collection generator will soon be available via their self-serve platform 'Facemoji Studio'.

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Ex MachineZone and Rovio veterans launch Original Games with $6M Seed Funding

Congrats to the Original Games team on closing their seed round, which will power them to scale their debut game 'Merge Inn' globally. We're honoured to lead the round alongside OG gaming entrepreneurs Anton Gauffin (founder of Huuge), Riccardo Zacconi (founder of King) and Kristian Segerstråle (CEO of Super Evil Megacorp).

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Reworks Acquired By Playtika For Up To $600M

One of Play's first investments Reworks has been acquired by Playtika for $400M and a $200M earn-out. We are proud to have backed the company from the very first pre-seed round to subsequent rounds, and to have played a small role in helping with game design, recruitment, fundraising and more, along the way. Congrats to CEO Ilkka Teppo and his awesome team for this achievement, all in less than 3 years! 

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Play Ventures - Mobile Games Awards Investor of The Year

We're proud to win the prestigious Pocket Gamer Mobile Games Award for Investor of the Year! Over the past 3 years, we've been incredibly humbled by how entrepreneurs have embraced us, and are also thankful to the 32+ companies who have chosen to take us along their entrepreneurship adventure. Massive thanks to our own fund investors, partners, families, Pocket Gamer, and Steel Media.

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Play Ventures' US$135M Fund II To Power Future Unicorns of Gaming

We are excited to announce the closing of Play Ventures Fund II, a $135M fund that we will invest in the world’s best game makers and entrepreneurs. This is a milestone for us, and brings our total assets under management to $175M across both our funds.

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PLAY CO-INVESTS $1.5 MILLION INTO INDIA-BASED SPORTS GAMING STUDIO ALL-STAR GAMES

Lumikai and Play Ventures have made a  $1.5M pre-series A investment into leading Indian midcore sports studio All-Star Games.

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COLOSSI GAMES SECURES $2.5 MILLION IN SEED FUNDING

Mobile games developer Colossi Games has secured $2.5 million in seed funding. EQT Ventures led the investment, with further participation from existing backer Play Ventures.

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MOBILE PREMIER LEAGUE RAISES $95M FROM COMPOSITE CAPITAL, PLAY VENTURES, AND MORE

The Series D funding was led by Composite Capital and Moore Strategic Ventures. Play Ventures also participated in the round, which values MPL at $945 million.

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SAVAGE GAME STUDIOS RAISES $4.4 MILLION FOR MOBILE SHOOTER GAME

Savage Game Studios has raised $4.4 million to create two mobile game studios in Helsinki and Berlin. The company is at work on its first title, a mobile game shooter. Makers Fund led the $4.4 million seed round with participation from Play Ventures, who led their pre-seed round.

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Mod.io CLOSES $4M Round Led By Sequoia Capital India's Surge, Makers Fund

Australian cross-platform modding service Mod.io has raised $4M in a round led by Sequoia Capital India's Surge and Makers Fund. The funding will help the team bring UGC to more games and platforms, and provide studios with a turnkey solution for launching integrated UGC communities.

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BIGGER GAMES CLOSES $6M ROUND lED BY INDEX VENTURES

Istanbul’s Bigger Games has raised a $6M round led by Index Ventures, who have backed the likes of Roblox, King, and Supercell. Play Ventures led the pre-seed round and participated in the new round. The team will be using the funding to pursue opportunities in casual puzzle games.

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Traplight RAISES $9M And LauncHES 'Battle Legion' GLOBALLY

Finnish mobile firm Traplight Games has raised €8M ($9M) to scale their trail-blazing game 'Battle Legion'. EQT Ventures led the investment with further participation from Play Ventures, Initial Capital, and Heartcore Capital

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Reworks Raises $4.3M IN ROUND Led By EQT Ventures

Helsinki-based studio Reworks has raised €4M ($4.3M) from a funding round led by EQT Ventures. Founded in 2018, the firm is helmed by former Sumoing staff, who have been creating apps and games together for seven years. Other investors include Play Ventures and Huuuge Games CEO Anton Gauffin.

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Starberry Games Raises €1.1M From ByFounders AND Play Ventures

Award-winning mobile games studio StarBerry Games has raised €1.1M to develop and publish casual mobile games. The round was led by byFounders with participation from Play Ventures.

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Mainframe Industries Raises $8.3M From Andreessen Horowitz, Riot Games, Play Ventures

The Finnish-Icelandic gaming studio founded by former CCP, Remedy Entertainment, and Next Games veterans, is developing an unannounced, cloud-native, massively multiplayer online game.

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Potato Play Raises $500,000 From Play Ventures To Expand Operations

Singapore-based mobile games publisher Potato Play has raised $500,000 in a pre-seed funding round to help push Asia-developed games worldwide. The round was led by Play Ventures.

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Mod.Io RAISES $1M in ROUND led by play ventures

Play Ventures has led a $1M investment round into Mod.io in Melbourne. The team is on a mission to take UGC in games to a new level using its breakthrough cross-platform tools.

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Play VENTURES LEADS $1.8M FUNDING ROUND In FunCraft

FunCraft, a new studio headed by former Electronic Arts and Zynga veterans, has raised $1.8M to make “casual forever” mobile games. The round was led by Play Ventures, with participation from Zynga cofounder Mark Pincus, CEOs of Huuuge Games and Gucci, Facebook’s Mike Verdu, John Robinson of 100 Thieves, among others.

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DATASEAT RAISES $2.3M from Play ventures, backed.vc, saatchinvest

Dataseat, a tech startup that helps advertisers manage mobile app campaigns in-house, has raised £1.75M ($2.3M) from Play Ventures, Backed.vc, and Saatchiinvest. Former Criteo CEO Eric Eichmann and CPO Jonathan Wolf also participated.

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Play VENTURES Backs Mainframe Industries in €2M round

Play Ventures has invested in a €2M funding round for Mainframe Studios, formed by veterans of CCP, Remedy, and Next Games. The studio is focused on building the first MMO specifically developed for cloud platforms.

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Play Ventures Invests In Starform - A New Studio By Former King And Z2 Veterans

Starform -- a new Seattle-based game studio that former King and Z2Live mobile game veterans started -- has raised $1.25M and announced plans to make online games across various platforms.

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Our First Fund Over-Subscribed At $40m

We are super happy and proud to announce that our debut fund was over subscribed at $40M. We're excited to use these funds to help create the next billion dollar games companies in Asia, Europe, and the U.S.

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Redhill Games Raises $11.4m in round led by  Makers fund

Play Ventures portfolio company Redhill Games has raised $11.4M in an investment round led by Makers Fund, along with project financing from Kowloon Nights. Play Ventures participated in the new round as well.

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Gamejam Publishes Marshmello Music Dance Game

“It’s very exciting for Gamejam to be the first game developer ever to partner with an artist well-known like Marshmello to launch an album exclusive for 24 hours within a game which has never been achieved before,” said Christian Calderon, CEO of Gamejam, in a statement. Play Ventures invested in Gamejam in May 2019.

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Reworks Raises $1.5m As Studio Looks To Challenge Glu Mobile’s Design Home​

Helsinki-based Reworks has raised $1.5M in pre-seed funding as the company looks to challenge the “customisation games” market. Play Ventures originally invested originally in the Reworks team in December 2018.

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Rovio -- Makers Of Angry Birds -- iNVESTS In Play Ventures

We are very excited and humbled to announce Rovio – makers of Angry Birds – joining as an investor in Play Ventures. Thank you Rovio for joining our mission to create the world’s #1 early stage gaming fund.

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MODERN TIME GROUP Invests In Play Ventures

We are thrilled to welcome international entertainment powerhouse Modern Time Group (MTG) onboard as a limited partner. Play Ventures is proud to be working with MTG in backing the next generation of top gaming companies.

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Henric Suuronen SHAREs HIS INVESTMENT JOURNEY

Henric shares his investment beginnings, wins, and why he’s investing his own funds heavily into Play Ventures. Meet one of the men behind the world’s leading early stage gaming fund.

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[IN FINNISH] Kultasormet Perustivat Uuden Rahaston - Play Ventures Keräsi 30 Miljoonaa Euroa Sijoitettavaa Pelialan Startupeihin

Uuden Play Ventures -pääomasijoitusrahaston perustajat Harri Manninen ja Henric Suuronen tunnetaan peliyrittäjinä, jotka ovat myyneet omat yhtiönsä menestyksellisesti Disneylle ja Kingille.

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Play Ventures Will Invest $30M In Game Startups GLOBALLY

Play Ventures is raising a $30M fund to invest in game startups. The company will be led by Harri Manninen in Helsinki and Henric Suuronen in Singapore, but it will invest in startups around the world.

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