Set up back in July, the new $10 million strong development fund for indie studios StarFund has started pushing out its first investments, with a total of six startups benefiting from around $250,000 each.

The venture – which was set up by social gaming specialist CrowdStar and tech incubator YouWeb – was launched with the intention of seeking out innovation in the mobile development scene.

 

It's designed to have a specific focus on supporting indie studios sporting a social gaming bent.

Female focus

According to program lead Jim Mills, the first games developed using the funds will begin appearing in October on both iOS and Android.

"We've had great inbound interest since we announced the fund," he said.

"We are focusing on games that have mass-market appeal and multi-platform game play."

Mills claimed games believed to have 'worldwide appeal' are StarFund's focus, with CrowdStar's own record breaking Top Girl served up as the perfect example of the game StarFund will look to support.

"We look at the likelihood of cross-promoting a developer’s game within our network, which is more heavily focused on females," Mills added.

Mills added the company was likely to add male-targeted games in the future, while looking for new acquisitions at the upcoming GDC Online show Austin, Texas.

[source: GamesBeat]