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Pokemon Go dev Niantic pulls in $190 million investment

Studio has raised around $420m so far at an estimated $3.9 billion valuation

Date Type Companies involved Size
January 4th, 2019 investment Niantic $190m
Pokemon Go dev Niantic pulls in $190 million investment

Pokemon Go developer Niantic has raised a further $190 million in the latest large investment round for the developer.

This time the location and augmented reality games specialist has attracted 26 investors, though details of who’s involved were not disclosed in an SEC filing.

Back in December it was speculated that such a funding round would be led by IVP, along with Samsung Electronics and aXiomatic Gaming.

To date the company has raised around $420 million in total, having picked up $200 million in 2017 and up to $30 million from a 2015 round. It was previously reported the latest investment puts Niantic’s valuation close to $3.9 billion.

Ramping up

The investment comes at a time when Niantic is already bringing in a hefty chunk of cash from Pokemon Go. It was estimated that the title brought in $795 million from in-app purchases in 2018 - not including money made from real-world events and sponsored locations.

The studio, which previously released Ingress Prime, has been conducting M&A in recent times, snapping up companies such as London-based machine learning start-up Matrix Mill and Marvel Strike Force developer Seismic Games. The title from the latter is still owned and run by publisher FoxNext Games, however.

Niantic has big plans for the coming year with the impending release of Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. It also has its Real World Platform that it’s looking to put into the hands of other developers.

It recently launched a development competition to that end.

Niantic is nominated for multiple accolades at the Pocket Gamer Mobile Games Awards, including Technological Innovation and Best Live Ops. The event takes place on January 22nd just after the close of Pocket Gamer Connects London.


Head of Content

Craig Chapple is a freelance analyst, consultant and writer with specialist knowledge of the games industry. He has previously served as Senior Editor at PocketGamer.biz, as well as holding roles at Sensor Tower, Nintendo and Develop.