Mobile games developer TinyCo has secured $20 million (€14.8 million) in new financing through investment led by Pinnacle Ventures and previous investor Andreessen Horowitz.
The latest capital injection supplements the developer’s $18 million financing from 2011 in a round that was led by Andreessen Horowitz with angel investors Ron Conway and Keith Rabois also taking part.
The developer said that the financing will be used to bring in additional design and production staff in order to pursue the creation of ‘deeper, higher quality’ free-to-play mobile games.
“Mobile gamers aren’t stupid – they want more from the market than uninspired clones and low production values,” TinyCo’s co-founder and chief executive officer, Suli Ali, said.
“The only path forward is to produce games that bring something special to the table. That’s why we’ve taken the time to improve our processes and tighten our focus.”
TinyCo games have been downloaded on Apple, Google and Amazon mobile devices more than 85 million times since 2010.
In an effort to increase this figure, TinyCo has also moved to appoint Mike O’Brien, president and co-founder of ArenaNet, to the company’s board of directors.
O’Brien, who is also executive producer of ArenaNet’s Guild Wars franchise, will now sit on the board alongside Ali and Marc Andreessen.
“With strong roots in mobile game operations and monetisation, solid leadership, and a team of world-class developers and creative talent, TinyCo is perfectly positioned to bring their studio to the next level,” O’Brien said.
TinyCo has also recently added a number of other key executives in the form of former Zynga game designer Chelsea Howe, ex Mobile Pie creative director Will Luton and Brett Levin, who previously served as a senior game designer at LucasArts.
source : www.igamingbusiness.com
