Funding News
Krafton leads investment round in India studio Deftouch to scale King and develop new games
Krafton India co-led the round alongside T-accelerate Capital and Lumikai Fund
Investment News
UMX Studio secures $4.5 million investment from Jetapult to expand portfolio
Funding will "accelerate" developer's expansion in Saudi Arabia
Spanish Startup
EF Games is hiring developers and artists in Europe following Krafton investment
The startup is currently developing a competitive multiplayer title
Studio Startup
Krafton invests in Mario + Rabbids and Red Dead Redemption veterans at Day 4 Night
The new studio is developing an original IP combining the expertise of Davide Soliani, Christian Cantamessa and others
Funding News
Queensland indie studios secure $1.3 million in latest Games Grants funding round
This latest funding will support 12 games and an additional 40 positions for local developers
Investment
Finnish developer Future Run secures second round of investment led by Supercell
The funds will go towards the continued development of the studio's cross-platform title Riot Ball
Ai Funds
OpenAI raises $6.6 billion making it one of the most valuable companies in the world
The AI and research development company is most widely known for its ChatGPT service
Investment News
Nazara secures $108m to fuel further M&A
Nazara has also acquired an additional 19.35% share in Sportskeeda parent company Absolute Sports
Opening Up?
OpenAI wants to raise $6.5bn at $150bn valuation
Investors eye structural changes and removal of profit cap, according to reports
New Beginnings
Supercell invests in new Finnish studio Redly Games led by former game lead Theo Chow
The Helsinki-based studio is working on a cross-platform 3D adventure game built with Unreal Engine 5
Investment News
Nazara invests $117 million PokerBaazi parent Moonshine
India games firm picks up 47.7% stake in the company
Big Plans
“Treating what we are building not just as a game but as a social platform is very rare"
Social First’s CEO Kim Soares on securing funds to fuel the development of a new cross-platform MMO title that champions social connectivity
Investment News
InMobi lands $100 million for AI-driven expansion and acquisitions
InMobi will use the funds to propel its AI development and deployment efforts
Big-form Investment
PUBG developer Krafton invests $89.5m in audio and short-form video streaming firm Spoon Labs
Deal represents publisher's largest investment in a non-gaming company
Funding News
Turkey's Cypher Games raises $10m to take on match-3 market filled with "too many average-quality titles"
Seed investment round led by The Raine Group
Philosophy Focused
Mother Games raises $5 million to fuel its games ambitions
Its debut title Le Zoo is veering away from "traditional mobile games that exploit the dopamine system to addict players"
Platform Power
Live ops platform Magify raises €1 million to enhance AI and reach new markets
Magify has raised further funds towards democratisation, product development and more
Organic Opportunities
Empire Games will function as "new external team" after Huuuge Games investment
Huuuge sees potential in Empire to contribute to its organic growth
Hot Five
Hot Five: Harry Potter canned, Savvy's Saudi surge, Pokémon turns five and switching roles at miHoYo…
Our quick-fix roundup of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz
Mena Means Business
Savvy Games Group strikes key deals to power MENA industry growth
As string of partnerships and investments this week are focused on building the Middle East into a gaming powerhouse
Change Of Fortune
Tencent and NetEase rethink Japanese strategy with studio closure imminent
The first evidence of the change of heart is the closure of Visions of Mana studio, Ouka Studios just days after the game's launch
Double Jump
double jump.tokyo raises $10 million to bolster web3 games development
The Series D funding round was led by SBI Investment
Investing In Britain
Ukie's 2024 Video Games Growth Programme gets Department for Business and Trade backing
The programme of advice and help for businesses now has 30 companies signed up for this year's cohort
Investment News
Web3 platform GAMEE secures investment from TON Ventures
The Animoca Brands subsidiary plans to integrate TON-based digital assets into its Telegram Mini App to boost user engagement
Finding A Franchise
Mad Crusader to invest in games with "franchise potential" via Game IP Incubation programme
Applications are open for the second batch of the eight-month programme
Funding
FRVR raises $12.7 million towards AI engine and games democratisation
Iberis Capital led the funding round, while further participation came from Indico Capital Partners, Lince Capital, Hiro Capital and others
Ai Qa
nunu.ai has raised $2 million towards AI playtesters and QA with bot detection on the way
The startup specialises in quality assurance for open-world games
App Intelligence Magic
AppMagic’s CEO on raising $3m, market intelligence price wars, and ad revenue estimates
PocketGamer.biz speaks to Max Samorukov about the state of market intelligence and its plans for the future
Investment Bounceback
M&A is on the rise for the third quarter in a row
That's according to Drake Star whose latest Global Gaming Report for Q2 only carries good news on the games industry's rebound
Hot Five
Hot Five: HoYoverse’s next game, Monster Hunter Now’s multiplayer mindset, and three years of Pokémon Unite
Our quick-fix roundup of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz
Investment Round
UGC platform developer Look North World raises $4.5 million in seed funding
Start-up publishes premium mods and games for Fortnite, Roblox and Minecraft
Funding Round
Mobile market intelligence platform AppMagic raises $3 million
Firm aims to develop new platform features and expand global sales force in key markets
Investmen Report
Early-stage VC games funding hits 12-month high but growth and later stage investments still "very depressed"
Konvoy Ventures report notes "very depressed" VC investment landscape for growth and late-stage games companies
Investment News
Dusk secures $8 million to "reimagine" social multiplayer games
The platform aims to simplify building and playing multiplayer games on mobile by using its Dusk SDK
Early Echo
Echo Chess maker Echo Chunk raises $1.4 million in pre-seed round with a "passion" for AI
Participants include Andreessen Horowitz, Zynga’s Mark Pincus, Opendoor’s Eric Wu, and Roblox’s Stef Corazza
Finding Funds
Former Zen Match devs raise $3m in pre-seed funding round for new studio Grand Games
Developer has already soft-launched Magic Sort and is set to release Car Match later this month
Investment News
Square Enix leads $3.1 million investment round in Soccerverse
The new funds will be used to help accelerate the game's growth
Jobs In Games
Vladimir Markov joins Top App Games as new CEO following strategic investment
"I believe Top App Games is the next billion-dollar business in the gaming industry," said former My.Games CEO Vladimir Nikolsky
Finding Funds
Felicity Games raises $700K in pre-seed to test 10 games within a year
Funds were raised from DeVC, Visceral Capital, and many angel investors
Branching Out
Kwalee takes 3.58% minority stake in Devolver Digital via new equity placing
Devolver have successfully raised around £7.9 million in new investment through recent moves to boost their balance sheet
Game Over?
Finnish startup Bitmagic raises $4 million for AI platform able to create games from text prompts
With Supercell as an investor the company has launched its platform on Steam Playtest as it seeks to "make game creation accessible to everyone"
Fintech Funds
LinQ raises $2.3 million in seed funding to publish real-money games
Drive by DraftKings, Sharp Alpha Advisors, MiddleGame Ventures, and a16z Speedrun participated in the funding
Safety Startup
Tencent, Google and Meta vets raise $45 million in Series A towards online safety startup k-ID
The round was led by Andreessen Horowitz and Lightspeed Venture Partners
Investment News
Narwhal Accelerator injects six-figure funding into game dev tool Magify
Magify's Business Intelligence system platform aims to simplify the game creation process for mobile game developers
Finding Funds
Brainspark Games raises £1.4 million towards building educational AI mobile games
The funding comes from its seventh Innovate UK Investor Partnership grant and a match-funded angel investment
What Investors Want
"Half of investment is going into AI"
Goodbody's Patrick O'Donnell and JKL Capital's Peter Tsang discuss the latest investment trends
Funding Disaster
How Pixion Games lost nearly $2m in seed funding in three days
Studio founder and CEO Kam Punia opens up about the studio being three weeks away from running out of money - before eventually raising more capital
The Web3 Way
Animoca Brands and Everest Ventures Group partner to cross-invest in upcoming Web3 projects
New products and games are on the way from both companies this year
Pgc Helsinki
Connecting investors and gamemakers at PG Connects Helsinki
The very finest curated networking with one-on-one meetings this October 1st
Hot Five
Hot Five: Squad Busters launches globally, AFK Journey gets innovative, and Juicy Button Games has big plans for 4X strategy genre
Our quick-fix roundup of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz