Weekly News Digest #41
# of announced deals
9
announced deals’ size
$46.6m
# of closed deals
9
Saudi Arabia’s PIF Sells 1.04% in Nintendo
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has reduced its stake in Japan-based games company Nintendo (TYO: 7974) from 8.58% to 7.54%.
In total, the fund has made three investments in Nintendo stock:
— In May’22, PIF acquired its first 5.01% stake in the company;
— In Jan’23, the fund bought 1.06% more;
— In Feb’23, PIF increased its stake in Nintendo by 2.26% to 8.58%.
Despite trimming its stake, PIF remains one of the largest shareholders in Nintendo and continues to hold significant investments in the gaming industry.
Since 2020, PIF and its gaming subsidiary Savvy Gaming Group have allocated approximately $17.35B throughout 16 deals. We’ve gathered all the deals in the picture below:
Read more about PIF’s strategy in our analysis of Scopely’s acquisition. We also recommend you listen to the recent podcast by Deconstructor of Fun with Savvy Games Group’s CEO Brian Ward.
We thank MY.GAMES and Xsolla for supporting this digest.
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VENTURE FINANCING
UAE-based web3 gaming and EdTech company PiP World has secured $10m in Seed funding from Exinity. The funds will support the company’s ecosystem’s expansion, including the trading strategy game PiP Trader, the gamified financial learning app PiP Academy, and the Roblox stock simulator StockRise, which was acquired in Aug’24. The company’s ecosystem focuses on improving users’ financial literacy.
UK-based web3 gaming studio Dragonz Lab has secured $9m in a funding round led by Syndicate Capital Limited Partnership Fund. The funds will support the development of the company’s play-to-earn title, Dragonz Land, an NFT trading card game with over 5.3 million monthly active users. The game allows players to buy, trade, and level up NFT cards while earning in-game tokens through various activities.
Third Dimension AI, a US-based generative AI startup, has raised $7m in a funding round led by Felicis, with participation from Abstract Ventures, MVP, Soma Capital, and Salt Fund. The funds will be used to expand the team and improve the company’s AI model. The company, founded by veterans from Activision, Tesla, and Wayve, aims to streamline the creation of large-scale 3D environments from 2D images and videos for use in video game world creation and other sectors.
US-based gaming tech company Windwalk has raised $4.5m in a Seed funding round from a16z Speedrun, Tirta Ventures, and Y Combinator. The funds will support the company’s new platform, Harbor, a social software designed to unify and engage superfans across various channels. The platform enables brands to create customized community hubs, host launch events, and manage referral campaigns through a visual no-code dashboard. Windwalk plans to expand Harbor’s usage beyond gaming to verticals such as e-commerce, sports, and other sectors.
US-based gaming tech startup Clout Kitchen has raised $4.45m in a Seed funding round led by Peak XV’s Surge and a16z Speedrun, with participation from AppWorks, Antler, Hustle Fund, Founders Launchpad, Orvel Ventures, and other investors. The funds will support the development of Backseat AI—a real-time in-game virtual AI companion featuring voice twins of famous gaming personalities for League of Legends. In Jul’24, the company received support from the Founders Launchpad accelerator.
US-based platform Loot Labs has secured $6m in a Seed funding round led by BITKRAFT Ventures, with participation from Sfermion, Fabric Ventures, and Everyrealm. The funds will support the expansion of the company’s platform, Boxed.GG. This round brings the company’s total funds raised to $7.5m. Founded in 2022 by veterans from Microsoft, Twitch, NASA, and LucasArts, Loot Labs provides a platform that allows users to trade both physical and digital collectibles. The platform plans to add Counter-Strike 2 collectibles in Oct’24.
Poland-based game development studio Sundog has secured $4.3m (PLN 16.9m) in grant funding from the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development. The funds will support the development of its debut title, Ibru. The studio raised $340k (PLN 1.5m) from undisclosed investors in Feb’23.
Belgium-based gamification platform StriveCloud has secured $1.48m (€1.35m) in a funding round co-led by ForsVC, Birdhouse Ventures, Seeder Fund, and other investors. The funds will support the company’s expansion and enhance its technology. StriveCloud aims to reduce the churn rate of websites and apps by creating interactive and gamified user experiences through personalized challenges and real-time updates.
India-based mobile games developer Deftouch has secured undisclosed funding from Krafton (KRX: 259960), T-Accelerate Capital, Lumikai, Visceral Capital, and Play Ventures. The funds will support the development of new and existing titles, such as King of Cricket and Cricket Star. Founded in 2017, Deftouch released King of Cricket, which reached 10 million downloads in 2024 and has 200,000 daily active users. The company plans to raise a Series A round by the end of 2025.
FUNDRAISING
Australia-based government agency Screen Queensland has awarded $1.3m in grants to nine independent studios to support the development of 12 games as part of its Games Grant program. The initiative will create 40 new roles for local developers and provide up to $200k per project. Recipients include Fuzzy Ghost, Saltpunk, BaristaGamer Productions, Sagestone, Sbug Games, Maxart, Flow-State, and Spitfire Interactive. 5 Lives Studios will receive support for the full release of its title, Cozy Caravan. Applications for the next funding round will open in Dec’24.
