Follow the money: Who's funding, publishing and buying at PGC Barcelona 2026
- Voodoo, Kwalee, SayGames, Tilting Point, TapNation, Midwest Games, DECA Games, Plan A Games, GrowCap, Point72 and more are heading to PGC Barcelona on June 15th and 16th.
- SayGames' Kate Dekalenkova, Tilting Point's Kevin Segalla, Plan A Games' Janette D’Alessio, GrowCap's Ben Blackwood and DECA Games' Stephen Lee share advice for cutting a deal.
This year there will be three groups of people at PGC Barcelona (June 15th and 16th) that those in the gaming world will want direct access to: the investors writing cheques, the publishers handing out greenlights and the financiers funding growth.
Here's who you’ll find, who is worth talking to, some advice from attendees and why it’s an event you can’t afford to miss out on.
The investors
A part of the $30 million funding TaleMonster Games recently raised in its Series A round earlier this year, Point72 Ventures will be at PGC Barcelona. The company is very much on the look out for backing game studios with classic venture capital.
The publishers
As always, PGC’s publisher roster spans some of the biggest names in the industry - everyone from Voodoo, Kwalee, SayGames, TapNation (a Financial Times fastest-growing pick), French distributor Plug in Digital, ZiMAD, GameHouse, live games operator DECA Games, Midwest Games and Fortis Games - the list goes on.
There's a new, but notable, kid on the block that is worth catching early too: Kinetic Publishing, the new indie label launched in 2026 by the team behind the 25 million-selling horror hit Phasmophobia. Their main aim is supporting small independent teams with hands-on publishing, marketing and business guidance.
For those looking for a publishing deal at the show, DECA Games' VP of partnerships, Stephen Lee offers some tips.
"Come prepared. Not only in terms of preparing your pitch, but also by doing some homework and looking into the publishers that you're meeting with. Everyone has limited time, energy and bandwidth, and personally the most disappointing conference meetings are when you realise within the first minute that the developer didn't read your profile and is trying to pitch you something that's not a fit."
SayGames is another publisher looking to meet with developers at the show.
"PGC events are always great opportunity to meet teams in person and better understand how they approach game development, product strategy, and long-term growth," says business development manager Kate Dekalenkova.
"At SayGames, we're especially interested in meeting mobile developers who want to build scalable, sustainable products together with a publishing partner.
"We're looking for teams with strong product expertise - developers who understand their audience, care about gameplay quality and retention, and are open to collaboration across analytics, monetisation, live operations and growth.
"For studios looking for a publishing deal, my biggest advice is to first understand what kind of partnership you actually need. Is it the publisher's reputation, a fair revenue share, product expertise, scaling capabilities or a combination of all these factors? Having clarity on your priorities makes conversations much more productive and helps both sides quickly understand whether there's a strong fit.
"The best meetings are usually not the ones with the most polished pitch decks, but the ones where developers can clearly explain their product positioning, company's strategy and what they expect from a publishing partner. Publishing works best when both sides share similar ambitions, ways of working, and a long-term vision for the product."
The UA financiers
Several non-dilutive financiers will also be in the room.
Plan A Games, backed by Fortress Investment Group, covers up to 100% of UA costs through revolving credit you repay from revenue, while GrowCap offers similar revenue-based financing.
Then there's Tilting Point, which runs a $150m UA Fund for games that are already performing, and Xsolla, better known for commerce, which operates a developer funding programme, too.
"PGC Barcelona is always a favourite for us - having our office here makes it feel less like a conference and more like co-hosting," says Tilting Point CEO Kevin Segalla. "We love the energy it brings every year.
"On UA financing: Back in 2016, we started the industry’s first user acquisition fund and identified a real need for developers. Today, Tilting Point maintains an active UA fund for apps and games as we feel it is a compelling option for developers who have proven traction and just need the fuel to scale without giving up equity or control.
"My advice is to choose your partner carefully. There are plenty of UA funding providers out there, but working with someone who provides more than just capital, that actually intimately understands UA and scaling, makes all the difference.
"We operate games at scale ourselves, so we know it all from the inside. The right partner gives you flexibility, real expertise, and a structure that accelerates growth rather than adding pressure and restrictions on your business."
GrowCap is another firm looking to fund user acquisition for high-growth mobile games at the show, as co-founder and CEO, Ben Blackwood, explains.
"We work with studios spending anywhere from $50K to several million a month on UA. Budget size isn't what matters; what matters is that the title is working and you're ready to scale. The entry point is a game exiting soft launch with at least $50K/month sustained over the prior two to three months.
"UA financing funds ad spend, not opex or development, so it protects your balance sheet and keeps your own capital free for development, M&A, or the next title. The bigger the revenue base, the better the terms. We underwrite a clear, repeatable pattern with under a one-year payback, and because our team comes from publishing and UA, you get an operating partner, not just a cheque."
"What to bring to the conversation:
- Cohort-level ROAS by spend month (D30 / D90 / D180).
- Retention curves (D1 / D7 / D30).
- MMP access ready to share (AppsFlyer, Adjust, or Singular).
- Current monthly UA spend, plus where you'd deploy more over the next six months.
- A clear answer to: "What does an extra $100K unlock that you can't do right now?"
Plan A Games' head of business development, Janette D'Alessio, offers some advice for companies looking for UA financing.
"What makes a game ready for UA financing?: Not genre, team size, or how much you've already raised. It's evidence: ROAS data deep enough to build a real curve beyond D7 and D30, retention that proves players come back, and at least one UA channel already working at some scale for a couple of months. We fund the scale.
"What won't disqualify your game (but founders assume it will): No recent launch date or perfect D7 ROAS. Some of our strongest candidates have been live six or 12 months with consistent LTV across different market conditions, because that history shows how a game behaves when UA slows, seasonality hits or creative fatigues.
"And earlier studios spending modestly but already seeing strong KPIs: don't wait. Strong performance at low spend is one of the most compelling signals we see. It tells us the game works. The only question is what happens when we pour fuel on it.
"What to bring to PGC: Not a pitch deck. Three things: honest KPIs (your real average, not your best week), a hypothesis about scale (which channels have room and where the ceiling is) and a specific question. The best conversations aren't "can you fund us?" They're "here's what we have, does this work for your model?" The studios that move fastest come ready to build something together."
Where the deals actually happen
The track record speaks for itself: across its history, the PGC series has helped spark over $1 billion in deals and facilitated more than 110,000 business meetings.
Barcelona's 2025 debut alone drew over 1,000 senior professionals - more than one in four of them C-level. That's 500+ companies' worth of decision-makers, with a big amount helping to decide who gets funded, published and bought.
Grab your ticket and start booking meetings here for PGC Barcelona 2026.
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