Finnish game studio PlayRaven today announced it has closed a €3.3 million extended seed investment round (Update – May 2023: The startup seems to be no longer in business under this website, and we therefore deactivated the original link).
The Norwegian venture capital fund Northzone joins the startup’s existing backers, which include Creandum, investor Jari Ovaskainen and London Venture Partners. The new financing boosts the total funding PlayRaven has raised so far to €6.5 million,
Founded in 2013, Helsinki-based PlayRaven aims to disrupt the mobile gaming market with radically new mechanics and themes in the strategy genre. The studio’s roster of creative and technical artists leverages talent and experience gained from industry powerhouses like Remedy Entertainment, Rockstar Games, Supercell, Wooga and Unity.
PlayRaven’s Spymaster debuted globally on mobile devices in September 2014 and quickly rose to the top of Apple’s iPad strategy game charts in 99 countries. Players take up the role of ‘supreme allied spymaster’ during the Second World War, managing undercover agents deep behind enemy lines to steal information and thwart enemy forces. The free-to-play adventure features an authentic atmosphere that informs its game play systems, with an emphasis on individual player choice and consequences.
“Mobile gaming has become stagnant. Tablets and smartphones have matured into a market even greater than television, and yet revenues are dominated by titles that are 18-24 months old,” said PlayRaven CEO Lasse Seppänen. He continued: “PlayRaven was formed to foster an environment that advances creativity and autonomy. Our promise to our peers and our audience is to put forth original properties that shake the mobile scene out of its comfort zone. The response to our first title, Spymaster, reinforced that we’re moving in the right direction.”
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