Play Ventures, a worldwide enterprise capital agency specializing in early-stage gaming, has raised $140 million for its third gaming fund.
This fund represents Singapore-based Play Ventures’ largest fund so far and brings its complete belongings below administration to $450 million. Coming at the moment, the brand new fund is vital for the gaming trade, which has had a troublesome 2.5 years with 33,000 layoffs throughout that point.
The fund’s shut was pushed by sturdy assist from a core group of returning buyers, together with college endowments, strategic companions within the gaming sector, and distinguished international household places of work in addition to new buyers backing the agency’s thesis.
Fund III will construct upon Play Ventures’ profitable technique of investing in early-stage corporations throughout the gaming ecosystem, with a give attention to cell free-to-play, cell shopper, gaming infrastructure and platforms, AI-enhanced gaming instruments, and next-generation distribution channels.
Because the fund’s preliminary shut in June 2023, the fund has already made eight investments, together with investing in skilled founders with prior exits, underscoring the energy of Play Ventures’ method and deal sourcing.
“Software may have eaten the world, but mobile has swallowed our time whole. People now live on their phones—spending hours a day engaging with social media, apps, and, most notably, games,” mentioned Henric Suuronen, founding accomplice at Play Ventures, in a press release. “Mobile gaming is one of the most dynamic arenas of our time, presenting massive, untapped potential. With Fund III, we’re investing in a new wave of billion-dollar games and interactive experiences, supercharged by the transformative power of AI.”
Fund III may also have an expanded focus to “playable apps”—shopper purposes that apply the very best of the free-to-play gaming playbook to create fascinating, interactive consumer experiences throughout a number of shopper verticals.
“Integrating gaming mechanics into everyday apps is just the first step. There’s a ton of user engagement and value that can be unlocked by taking learnings from the entire f2p gaming playbook that has been perfected over decades, including meta design, live ops, economy design, and monetization”, mentioned Phylicia Koh, Associate at Play Ventures. “Our playable apps investments in Arya, Ahead, Benjamin and Bible Chat are testaments of how this approach can drive significant growth and reshape user experiences.”
Most not too long ago, Fund III invested in AI-startup Past, based by Huuuge Video games founder Anton Gauffin, creating their first shopper product Decor Society.
I requested Harri Manninen, cofounder of Play Ventures, concerning the significance of elevating this fund within the context of so many layoffs in gaming.
“The gaming industry has always been extremely fast moving and dynamic,” Manninen mentioned. “While the recent period of slower growth and economic pressure has certainly impacted gaming companies, the gaming ecosystem continues to evolve and present new opportunities in areas like user-generated content (UGC) platforms, AI-powered tools and development, emerging global markets and also playable consumer apps. These can be seen as an entirely new class of growth opportunities.”
Manninen added, “We believe that the best founders see these periods of uncertainty as an opportunity to build the next generation of great game companies. Many of the biggest gaming companies of today were founded during times of market downturn and gloom. With Fund III, we are committed to supporting these brave founders who are creating new business, regardless of market sentiment. It’s an exciting time to invest in new gaming startups and technologies and help drive the industry forward.”
And he mentioned, “My hope is that the new gaming companies of tomorrow will grow into big successes that will be able to hire many of the top talent that have unfortunately lost their jobs in the gaming industry recently. With new growth companies there’s always demand to hire new people and top talent.”
Play Ventures anticipates deploying Fund III throughout 20 to 25 corporations globally, specializing in early-stage investments from pre-seed to Collection A, whereas reserving capital to assist the highest-performing portfolio corporations as they develop.
With Fund III, Play Ventures is worked up to accomplice with founders who’re redefining the gaming panorama and constructing the subsequent technology of interactive experiences.
Play Ventures was based in 2018 and it has places of work in Singapore and Helsinki. For the primary fund, Play Ventures raised $30 million in 2018 and for the second it raised $135 million in 2021.
The staff consists of Suuronen, Harri Manninen, and common companions Kenrick Drijkoningen, Phylicia Koh, and Anton Backman.
