News

China specialist Yodo1 raises $5 million to deal with the 'incessant demand' from western devs

Series A round lead by SingTel Innov8

China specialist Yodo1 raises $5 million to deal with the 'incessant demand' from western devs
We all know the Chinese mobile game market is taking off.

How to get western games launched there is another question entirely, however.

That's where Yodo1 comes into place.

The market entry specialist has just completed its Series A round, with the majority of the $5 million raised coming from SingTel Innov8.

It's part of the Singapore-based SingTel Group, which has over 450 million subscribers in southeast Asia.

Additional funding was provided by original investor Chang You Fund.

Fuelling the fire

"The challenge is keeping up with the incessant demand from high quality studios," explained Yodo 1 CEO Henry Fong.

Over 250 western game studios have contacted it since 2012.

"With close to 1 billion mobile subscribers migrating from feature phones to smartphone handsets over the next 2 years, emerging markets such as China and southeast Asia represent the most exciting prospects for mobile games developers."

Having worked with the likes of Defiant Development (Ski Safari), XMG Powder Monkeys, HandyGames Clouds & Sheep, and Robot Entertainment Hero Academy, Yodo1 points out that it already has a strong user base.

Across all of its games, there are 25 million active players in China, with over 5 million added per month.

Yodo1 also says that daily active users and revenue is now doubling on a monthly basis.

"Gaming is one of the fastest growing segments in the smartphone ecosystem, and Yodo1 has cracked the code on how to publish international smartphone games in China," commented William Bao Bean, SingTel Innov8's MD.


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.