Portalarium, the social and mobile studio founded by industry veteran Richard Garriott, has announced the closing of its $7 million Series A funding round.

The round was led by London-based venture capital firm m8 Capital, and other participants include FF Angel, BHV Venture Capital, and Richard Garriott himself.

The funding will be used to put apply the finishing touches to Portalarium's 'first feature product' Ultimate Collector, which is expected to launch on browsers, Facebook, and mobile platforms in summer 2012.

The remainder will be used to get production underway on Ultimate RPG (working title), which is scheduled for release on mobile platforms. Other, unannounced Portalarium products will be published on Zynga.com as part of its Platform Partners programme.

Great expectations

"This is an important step for the growth of our company," explained Garriott.

"We are grateful for the confidence m8 Capital and Founders Fund have placed in our team and we believe gamers will ultimately reap the benefits from this partnership when they get a chance to play Ultimate Collector and see the unique mobile and social games that we are creating at Portalarium," he concluded.

"Following our early stage investment in Portalarium, announced in June 2011, we're pleased to further our commitment to Richard Garriott and to Portalarium," continued Joseph Kim, m8 Capital general partner.

"Richard is one of the legendary developers in the gaming industry and his vision for this next era of mobile and social gaming will firmly position Portalarium as an industry leader.

[source: Portalarium (PDF)]