Highlights

Turkish Studio Circle Games raised $7.25M in our Seed Round, led by BITKRAFT Ventures, with participation from a16z speedrun, Play Ventures, APY Ventures, and e2vc! The studio’s founding team brings heavyweight experience from Turkey’s mobile giant, Gram Games, Dream Games, and Good Job Games, and is now focused on building premium experiences for the casual puzzle market. Circle’s debut title, Sort Express, is currently in development and will be scaled globally with this new funding. The studio also plans to launch new puzzle games and expand beyond its 12-person team. 🧠 “We want to double down on our talent and scale our first title,” said CEO Göktürk Balıkcı. “Players today expect better visuals and UX because the casual puzzle space is more competitive than ever. We’re focused on delivering skill-based gameplay and innovating in the later stages of the game […]

Lyon-based mobile game studio Million Victories has raised nearly $40 million in a major funding round led by Haveli Investments, marking a pivotal moment in the company’s global growth ambitions. This round follows previous support from Griffin Gaming Partners and Eurazeo, bringing the studio’s total backing to over $46 million. This fresh capital injection will fuel a massive hiring push, market expansion, and further development of its flagship 4X strategy title, Million Lords, a streamlined, PvP-first twist on the traditionally complex empire-builder genre. Data? 🎯 Key Highlights Funding Round: Nearly $40 million led by Haveli Investments Backers: Follows earlier rounds from Griffin Gaming Partners and Eurazeo Flagship Game: Million Lords, a real-time multiplayer 4X strategy game Traction: Over 4 million players 100,000+ monthly active users (MAU) Revenue doubled year-over-year since launch Hiring Roadmap: Plans to double headcount by 2027 Currently […]

In a bold strategic move, DoubleDown Interactive (NASDAQ: DDI) has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire WHOW Games, a Hamburg-based social casino operator, for €55 million upfront, with a potential €10 million performance-based earn-out over the next two years. This marks the fourth M&A deal by the DoubleU Games Group, and a major step into the European social casino market, especially Germany, a region that's been outperforming global trends. 💬 “This acquisition marks a significant step toward increasing our competitiveness in the growing German social casino market,” said In Keuk Kim, CEO of DoubleDown. 🧠 Why It Matters: WHOW Games 2024 revenue: €41.8M (unaudited) Proven portfolio: Proprietary hits like MyJackpot and Lounge777, plus licensed brands like Merkur24 Core market: Germany and wider Europe, where social casino growth outpaces global averages Synergy potential: Combines WHOW’s local expertise with DoubleDown’s global […]

Written by our Partner, InvestGame MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS🤝 UK-based casual mobile game developer Tripledot Studios has completed its $800m acquisition of AppLovin’s (NASDAQ: APP) entire mobile gaming business. The deal included 10 gaming studios: Athena Studio, Belka Games, Clipwire Games, Leyi, Lion Studios, Machine Zone, Magic Tavern, PeopleFun, Zenlife Games, and Zeroo Gravity. For a more detailed analysis, please refer to our deal deconstruction here. The South Korean government has launched the sale of its 30.6% stake in NEXON KOREA (TSE: 3659) holding company NXC via a structured block trade, with indicative bids due by the end of Aug’25 and the stake expected to be placed in one or more tranches, implying a $3.5B equity valuation. This marks the third attempt by the government to divest its shares in the company, following two previously unsuccessful efforts due to a lack […]