Lumikai Fund’s Post

Finnish gaming studio raises €17M to lead mobile gaming innovation with emotional storytelling Helsinki-based gaming studio BIT ODD has raised €17 million in a funding round led by Griffin Gaming Partners, with contributions from Makers Fund, Index Ventures, and other prominent investors. BIT ODD aims to bring creativity and emotional depth back to mobile gaming, countering the industry’s trend toward data-driven, finance-first game design. The studio plans to use the funding to expand its team, enhance development capabilities, and craft immersive gaming experiences that prioritize wonder and originality. https://lnkd.in/dMC7u5Da #funding #nordicmade #finland #gaming #startups #trending

We’re excited to announce that MPL has acquired CloudFeather Games, a frontrunner in gaming technology backed by Lumikai. This acquisition combines MPL’s market leadership with CloudFeather’s expertise in building scalable gaming infrastructure. Together, we’re set to enhance the gaming experience for 120 million+ users across India, the US, and Nigeria. This milestone strengthens MPL’s commitment to delivering seamless and innovative gaming experiences while driving the future of skill-gaming globally. #MPL #CloudFeatherGames #Gaming #MobileGaming Namratha B Swamy Romi Chandra CloudFeather Games Lumikai Fund https://lnkd.in/dsCBj3Gt

Investors cannot stay away from Web3 gaming. Despite a 31% decline in the value of investments from Quarter 3 2023 to Quarter 4 2024 because of: - Shift in investor focus to AI - Market saturation - Economic uncertainty The number of investments is still increasing. Publicly announced deals have grown 34% year-to-date (YTD) compared to 2023, and Quarter 3 saw gaming startups raise $517 million with Web3 gaming. Notable deals include; - Azra Games raising $42.7 M - Parallel studios securing $35 M - Syndicate funding round worth $ 30 M Web3 gaming is still attractive for the future. A drop in investment is not a drop in interest in Web3 gaming.

Felicity Games Raises $700K Pre-Seed Funding! We are excited to share that Felicity Games, a promising casual game developer and publisher, has successfully raised $700K in its pre-seed funding round! This round saw significant participation from DeVC, Visceral Capital, and notable angel investors including Kunal Shah of CRED, former Nazara CEO Manish Agarwal, Swiggy co-founders Sriharsha M. and Nandan Reddy, and Sameer Pittalwala, Head of Gaming at Google Cloud (APAC). Felicity Games, founded in 2023 by ex-Swiggy executive Anurag Choudhary, is making waves in the gaming industry. With two hit titles, 'Seek & Find' and 'Nova Solitaire', the company has already achieved impressive unit economics in the US and other Western markets, amassing over 100,000 downloads within just three months. The newly raised funds will be directed towards testing 10 new games by March 2025, to scale revenue tenfold by the end of this year. Felicity's proprietary framework, "Pokhran," allows for rapid prototyping and testing of casual games, ensuring only the most successful are scaled. In just one year, Felicity Games has launched over 10 game titles, attracting more than a million monthly users across 14 geographies. With this fresh funding, the company is well-positioned to expand its portfolio and solidify its presence in the global gaming market. Stay tuned for more updates on this exciting journey! Read More: https://lnkd.in/gfCQvMWB #FelicityGames #FundingNews #GameDevelopment #StartupNews #Investment #CasualGaming #TechNews #GamingIndustry #Entrepreneurship #Innovation

🎮 Discover Fresh Gaming Experiences: An Indian Marketplaces Startup for Acquisition 🕹️ Imagine a one-stop online platform where gamers can effortlessly discover and dive into a variety of new titles, tailored to their unique tastes. This is exactly what our Indian marketplace startup offers, with 25,000 HTML5 web games connecting players to an evolving gaming universe. From casual gamers to hardcore aficionados, everyone's catered to with personalized recommendations and an intuitive interface. The startup operates on an advertising-based business model. Despite its scaled-down operations

Gaming startup Mobile Premier League (MPL) said that it has picked up a significant stake in gaming development tools provider CloudFeather Games to fortify its presence in the gaming ecosystem👇 With this deal, MPL aims to tap CloudFeather’s gaming infrastructure solutions and deliver innovative gaming experience to its users. Besides, it will use CloudFeather’s technology stack, including server infrastructure and wallet integration systems to boost its tech capabilities. “CloudFeather’s technical expertise will further strengthen our product roadmap and help us deliver even more innovative gaming experiences to our community of 120 Mn users worldwide,” said MPL’s chief operating officer Namratha Swamy. Founded by Sai Srinivas Kiran G and Shubh Malhotra in 2018, MPL is an esports and skill gaming platform. It offers more than 60 games across categories such as daily fantasy sports, quizzing, board games, esports, and casual games on its mobile app. The startup claims to cater to more than 120 Mn users across Asia, Europe, and North America. To read the in-depth article, click here: https://4-2.co/3Db61Gl #news #gaming #startup

Web3 gaming is set to revolutionize digital entertainment, providing players unprecedented control and monetization opportunities. Despite scalability and regulatory obstacles, the industry is expected to experience significant growth, surpassing USD 133 billion by 2033. This growth will be fueled by decentralization, play-to-earn models, and improved security. With ample opportunities for new revenue streams and innovative gameplay mechanics, the future of gaming looks bright. 🚀 #web3 #gaming #decentralization #startups #mobilegaming

#Casual gaming studio Funstop Games has raised $5 million in a Series A funding round led by 360 ONE Asset along with participation from Info Edge Ventures where InfoEdge Ventures doubling down on its investment from a previous round. The proceeds will be used to accelerate game development efforts, build ad-tech capabilities, expand its portfolio of games, increase its presence in the casual gaming sector, and create new titles, Funstop Games stated in a press release. Co-founded in 2020 by Prashanth Vijay and Tamesh Sharma, Funstop Games develops and publishes a variety of mobile games that offer in-app purchases, allowing users to buy virtual goods and other game-related content. The Delhi-based company aims to expand rapidly on a global scale, targeting diverse genres and reinforcing its growth strategy within India. The studio also plans to launch more titles in the spiritual gaming segment. Funstop claims that its popular Shri Ram Mandir Game has surpassed 25 million downloads, creating a new category it calls "spiritual gaming." The startup also reports $4 million in revenue to date, with a portfolio of over 30 games. Its global downloads have reached over 100 million, led by games like Airport Rush and Perfect Time, which together have amassed over 75 million downloads. Dharm | Kitty | Chinmaya | Ankit | Mohit | Nitin | Rishabh | Satadru | Tanmay | Sonali | Aditya | Nishant | Anil | Karan | Abhishek |

Narwhal Accelerator, a games industry initiative dedicated to supporting startup gaming and game tech companies, has funded all-in-one game development tool, Magify LTD, with a 6-figure investment. The investment aims to support Magify in scaling its business operations and successfully closing its current funding round. Narwhal's backing will enable Magify to enhance its development capabilities and bring cutting-edge gaming solutions to mobile game developers. "In today’s market, with continuous post-IDFA challenges, UA for mobile games has become more expensive, and all studios are trying to find a solution to increase LTV and optimize marketing costs. We are excited to partner with Magify and support their journey towards becoming a leading solution for mobile game developers," said Grigory Bortnik, Co-founder of Narwhal. "We are thrilled to have Narwhal's support as we continue to grow and innovate. This partnership will provide us with the resources and industry connections needed to reach new heights. For several years now, the mobile games market has had a high entry barrier for newly created studios, and we are on a mission to solve this problem." said Eugene Kurenkov, CEO of Magify.

Singularity 6 had a formidiable thesis - making an online cozy game as a game-as-a-service. It brought its game, Palia, to market on both Nintendo Switch and PC. It has developed and managed a Discord server with more than 320,000 people (more than 90K were online when I checked), have had more than 4 million players play in its open beta which has over 100,000 daily active players. It raised tens of millions of dollars from venture capital to accomplish all of this ($49M according to what I read on PitchBook). And now, they've sold to Daybreak Games, a long-standing online game operator (formerly known as Sony Online Entertainment, or SOE). Terms of the deal were not disclosed, beyond that Daybreak is acquiring 100% of Singularity 6 as a wholly-owned subsidiary. Both the EG7 CEO and S6 CEO Anthony Leung (disclosure, I worked with Anthony at Riot and think he's a super smart, talented operator) were quoted about the value of this synergy for both sides. I have a few thoughts: 1. We already knew live service was getting harder, but now it's near impossible to assume a startup can make it on their own. Whether it's strategic partnerships like Theorycraft with Netease and Nexon for overseas publishing or an acquisition like this, live service studios are going to need to have partners to help them thrive in this market. 2. Raising money continues to get more difficult for startups in #gamedevelopment and #gamepublishing so an acquisition like this isn't just preferable to raising more money, it might be the only option for some. 3. Existing operators need to find ways to grow their portfolio, as they're also being pushed by the "games-as-a-platform" businesses - notably Fortnite, Minecraft and Roblox - all of which have devoured younger audiences and is keeping them. 4. Free-to-play live service games can thrive on Steam, but takes time to get it right. More of these games have to go to live service faster and learn how to iterate and improve their service earlier. https://lnkd.in/gsM_VpgU