Weekly News Digest #17
# of announced deals
6
announced deals’ size
$46.6m
# of closed deals
6
Hi all,
We are currently working on our Q1’23 Gaming Deals Report, so there’s no featured news in this digest. However, you can still find all the deals of the last week in the “Notable Transactions” section below. To not miss the Report, please follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Telegram.
We want to thank MGVC and The Games Fund for supporting this digest.
| NOTABLE TRANSACTIONS |
MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS
Germany-based games developer and publisher Astragon Entertainment, a subsidiary of UK-based gaming company Team17 (LON: TM17), has acquired Germany-based PC & Console games developer Independent Arts Software for an undisclosed sum. The companies have been collaborating for several years, and now with the acquisition Astragon will expand its workforce by adding trusted and experienced developers to its team for further development of existing and new IPs.
VENTURE FINANCING
Finland-based mobile games developer Cosmic Lounge has closed a Seed funding round led by Transcend Fund. The funds will go towards the development of free-to-play puzzle games for mobile devices.
Japan-based VR games developer Character Bank has raised $2.57m (¥350m) in Series A funding. FreakOut Shinsei Fund, NetEase Games (NASDAQ: NTES), Drecom, and others have participated in this round. The funding will be used to add more staff and further expand the company’s presence on the global market.
Iceland-based PC game developer Vitar Games has raised $550k in a Seed funding round led by Behold Ventures and Brunnur. Founded in 2023, Vitar Games is currently developing its first title Dig In, a single-player management strategy game about WWI. The release date has not been announced yet.
PUBLIC OFFERINGS
Sweden-based PC & Console games developer Starbreeze Entertainment (STO:STARB), the studio behind the PayDay franchise, has announced a rights issue of approximately $43.5m. The company intends to invest $29m in other games developers and publishers in order to reduce its dependency on the PayDay franchise. Besides Starbreeze is going to repay a debt of $14.5m owed to Italy-based games developer and publisher Digital Bros (BIT: DIB), the company that controls 12% of the Starbreeze shares.
