Finnish educational games developer Lightneer has closed a $5 million seed funding round to prepare for the global launch of its first game Big Bang Legends.

The funding round was led by GSV Acceleration, with additional funding provided by IPR VC, Brighteye VC, and Reach Capital. It brings Lightneer's total funds raised to $7.8 million.

The money will be used to continued development of the studio's "invisible-learning platform" which will debut with the launch of Big Bang Legends. The game is due to launch worldwide in January 2018, with marketing efforts focused on the US and UK.

Stealth education

"After 3 billion downloads, and an extremely knowledgeable fanbase legacy of sling-shotting experts, we thought that what if we could give them something useful within the game mechanics too," said Lightneer Brand Breaker Peter Vesterbacka.

"Something as fun and entertaining as the best games in the world, with science invisible-learning qualities. What would the world look like, if the best games taught us particle physics?"

Vesterbacka joined Lightneer back in September 2016 after the developer raised €2.8 million in funding. GSV Acceleration and IPR VC had also invested in this previous round.

Lightneer CEO and co-founder Lauri Jarvilehto will be speaking at PG Connects Helsinki on September 19-20th. You can get tickets to the event from the official website.