Finnish mobile developer PlayRaven completes $4.1 million equity-investment round

Quoth the raven, “Give me more.”

PlayRaven announced today that it secured a $4.1 million extended seed investment round, which it finalized Nov. 18. This brings the Finnish mobile developer’s total funding since 2013 to $7.5 million. Among the investors are Northzone, Creandum, and London Venture Partners. This will enable the studio to bolster its shot at breaking into the lucrative mobile gaming market, which could hit $25 billion in worldwide revenues by the end 2014, according to market researcher Newzoo. It would have to compete with notable mobile developers like Supercell, Rovio, and King.

PlayRaven released the free-to-play game Spymaster in September, which has reached the top of Apple’s strategy iPad game charts in 99 countries, according to the developer. Although one of those countries isn’t the U.S., according to App Annie.

The studio was founded in 2013 in Helsinki. It houses former employees from studios like Rockstar Games, Supercell, and Unity.

“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 chief executive officer Lasse Seppänen said in a press release sent to GamesBeat. “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.”

Mike Minotti

Mike Minotti has been with GamesBeat since 2012, starting as an intern. Based near Youngstown, Ohio, he now manages GamesBeat's editorial team. He's also a prolific podcaster, appearing on multiple shows covering the gaming industry.