Scopely takes a big bet on its nextgen publishing philosophy with $35 million round

Nextgen mobile 'publisher' Scopely has announced it's closed a massive $35 million Series A funding round.

It was led by Evolution Media Partners - which a three-way joint venture between Evolution Media Capital, TPG Growth and Participant Media - and Highland Capital Partners.

Knoll Ventures also participated alongside existing investors Greycroft, The Chernin Group, Sands Capital Ventures and Double M Capital.

The company previously raised $8.5 million. 

The investment will be used to scale up Scopely model of its internal teams working very closely with developers during development and soft launch, before making big bets on the games that perform best during this stage.

It claims its mobile network has more than 35 million players.

As part of the deal Evolution Media Capital's Rick Hess, and Highland Capital Partners' Andy Hunt will join the Scopely board.

Rocket fuel for the trip

"Scopely has seen a tremendous acceleration of our business in 2014: we've added some of the top talent in the industry, more than doubled our revenue run rate in the past six months and formed partnerships with developers that are capable of delivering tentpole products in multiple genres across a diverse set of original and key licensed properties," said CEO Walter Driver.

"We believe the Scopely model is the future of mobile interactive entertainment," added Hunt.