Deal

CyberAgent invests in Indonesian mobile developer TouchTen

Looking to hook into strong regional growth

Date Type Companies involved Size
December 23rd, 2013 investment CyberAgent
Touchten Games
Not disclosed
CyberAgent invests in Indonesian mobile developer TouchTen

Leading Japanese internet outfit CyberAgent has invested in Indonesia mobile developer TouchTen.

Following initial investment from local VC Ideosource in 2011, it's currently working on closing its Series B round and says it will reveal the full list of investors in due course.

Set up in 2009, TouchTen, which is based in Jakarta, now consists of 20 staff.

Its best-known games include the 3 million-downloaded Sushi Chain and most recent release Ramen Chain.

"This has been a fantastic year for us," said TouchTen CEO Anton Soeharyo.

"We have been in talk with CyberAgent Ventures for more than two years, but finally it has become a reality. We believe that CyberAgent Ventures will bring their enormous wealth of know-how and help us build a sustainable game company."

Hot spot

CyberAgent is best known for its Cygames studio, which developed Rage of Bahamut and now part-owned by DeNA. It also has stakes in the KakaoTalk and Mixi social mobile networks, amongst its almost 150 portfolio investments.

The head of CyberAgent Ventures Indonesia, Suzuki Takahiro, said there were three reasons for the deal.

"The potential of smartphone games in Indonesia and the region has yet to fulfill its potential," he said. "Looking at the US and Japan as benchmark from the developed nation, we strongly believe that given time Indonesia will follow suit in the near future."

Other reasons included the experience of the TouchTen team, and the potential for it to build a platform for other emerging markets.

As well as Indonesia, TouchTen games are performing well in Singapore, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia and Thailand.

Contributing Editor

A Pocket Gamer co-founder, Jon is Contributing Editor at PG.biz which means he acts like a slightly confused uncle who's forgotten where he's left his glasses. As well as letters and cameras, he likes imaginary numbers and legumes.