5 ms·

Ask HN: Has YC or other VCs invested in gaming startups?

22 points by mondoshawan 11y ago

patio11 11y ago
Yes. Minomonsters is one example of several.
julee04 11y ago
Dots raised 10mil in their series A: https://www.crunchbase.com/funding-round/6f028590c883b23dfbeb3513b8e6fa5e# https://www.crunchbase.com/funding-round/6f028590c883b23dfbe...
bigdubs 11y ago
My sense is production companies / studios are a risky investment, but infrastructure (twitch.tv being the prime example) are more of a lucrative target for VCs. The studio risk is that the creative output of the individuals is the value you're investing in. Very few studios produce quality content in a machine like fashion, though there are exceptions (EA maybe? Lucas Arts in it's prime?). Zynga might be another example of a VC funded "gaming" company.
- eloisant 11y ago
  Indeed: http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/NicholasLovell/20100324/86975/Four_Reasons_Why_VCs_Wont_Fund_Game_Companies.php http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/NicholasLovell/20100324/86975...
raviparikh 11y ago
Machine Zone is the maker of "Game of War" and they were YC W08: https://mobile.twitter.com/ycombinator/status/360501111217590273 https://mobile.twitter.com/ycombinator/status/36050111121759...
dannysu 11y ago
Some examples from YC OMGPOP: http://techcrunch.com/2012/03/21/omgpop-iminlikewithyou-ycombinator/ http://techcrunch.com/2012/03/21/omgpop-iminlikewithyou-ycom... Game of War, Machine Zone: http://blog.ycombinator.com/machine-zone-yc-w08-debuts-game-of-war-ios-mmo-game-supports-hundreds-of-thousands-of-players-simultaneously http://blog.ycombinator.com/machine-zone-yc-w08-debuts-game-... A Thinking Ape
codeisvek 11y ago
http://instantesports.com http://instantesports.com
- mondoshawan 11y ago
  I guess I should have been more specific: I meant gaming as in video games.
  - arkem 11y ago
    Instant eSports is about video games even if they don't themselves make video games.
bartwe 11y ago
Thoughts on investing in a project vs investing in a company?
jokull 11y ago
I worked for Plain Vanilla when they received a big round of financing lead by Sequoia. If you want to ask me questions: jokull@solberg.is
cblock811 11y ago
Code Combat is a game for learning programming. They used to be a marketplace and hold competitions. These days I think they are experimenting with microtransactions.
r0naa 11y ago
I remember attending a talk by Eric Diep from "A thinking Ape" (gaming studio) at Hack the North. If I am not mistaken, he mentioned that they were backed by YC and a couple other high-profile investor in the valley.
boulos 11y ago
Sure. Some examples include: TinyCo (a16z), ngmoco (acquired by DeNA), Gree, Kixeye. Maybe you mean "in the last year"?
- mondoshawan 11y ago
  Ironically, I /work/ at TinyCo now -- wasn't sure how they did their funding, though -- haven't broached the subject with our CEO yet. =op [edit] Yeah, I meant in the last year.
  - interesting_att 11y ago
    Ha, I am a TinyCo alum who started his own gaming company. Let me know if you want to get coffee one of these days. Would highly recommend you have a finished game + some revenue before you hit up institutional investors. In the mean time, find angels who respect you. Believe you are an engineer, so people won't often doubt your ability to produce.
abannin 11y ago
Yes, YC has invested in multiple gaming companies the most successful of which is Machine Zone. As for other VCs, the most active in the sector are Bing Gordon, Rick Thompson, and IDG Ventures USA. Lots of others throw money around, but it's common for investors to specialize in the sector.
- deleted 11y ago
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- deleted 11y ago
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- jlees 11y ago
  Signia has also made some gaming investments and had a gaming focused EIR for a while.
  - abannin 11y ago
    Signia = Rick Thompson
- prbuckley 11y ago
  I was in the YC 08 batch with the machine zone guys, great guys. It is worth noting that they didn't really start as a gaming company when YC invested in them. They built a social network app called "add her" that was designed to get people more followers. They pivoted into mobile gaming after YC and had huge success.
joshu 11y ago
Several people in this thread are pointing out Machine Zone. However, when YC invested, it was "Addmired" - http://techcrunch.com/2008/02/13/myspacers-will-love-this-addher-widget-thingy/ http://techcrunch.com/2008/02/13/myspacers-will-love-this-ad...
- mcintyre1994 11y ago
  They did move to freemium mobile games a while before the Machine Zone/Game of War stuff with some success [0] though. [0] http://techcrunch.com/2012/03/27/freemium-game-dev-addmired-rebrands-as-machine-zone-lands-8m-from-menlo-ventures/ http://techcrunch.com/2012/03/27/freemium-game-dev-addmired-...
  - joshu 11y ago
    Yes, but they weren't a gaming company when YC invested.
Plough_Jogger 11y ago
ZowPow was a YC gaming company: https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/zowpow https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/zowpow
onewaystreet 11y ago
The better question is will YC or VCs ever invest in gaming startups again and the answer (at least for YC) is most likely no. There are a few VCs that do specialize in gaming though.
- DanBC 11y ago
  Do you speak for YC? Where do you get that information?
  - onewaystreet 11y ago
    Just my opinion. Look at the last three batches or so of YC startups. The type of companies YC invests in today are the furthest things away from gaming.
- tlb 11y ago
  YC is open to funding gaming startups if there's some reason to believe they could have a long-term sustainable advantage. With so much time spent gaming, there are surely more great new businesses to be built. I'm most optimistic about game engines, gaming hardware, and esports streaming and news. Or some new business model I haven't heard of yet. (I'm a YC partner)
wowaccount 11y ago
Wow, you are expecting HN to do research for you? The data should be easily available via crunchbase but it seems like you don't want to put the work in for basic research
toddkazakov 11y ago
Chobolabs raised $7.3MM Series A round for the development of multiplayer mobile games. https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/chobolabs https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/chobolabs
fsk 11y ago
You can get a gaming unicorn (Minecraft). However, Mojang didn't start getting interest from investors until they had enough cashflow to sustain their own growth. There have been some recent IPO successes (Zygna, King). (And king.com is starting to look like a one hit wonder with Candy Crush Saga.)
- antaviana 11y ago
  AFAIK, Mojang didn't take any investor's money. It was just 3 partners and no outside money.
  - fsk 11y ago
    Once they were a success, investors did come soliciting. They didn't need it, as they had sufficient cashflow. If Notch had solicited VC before he was a hit, the VCs probably would have just laughed him out of their office.
arkem 11y ago
Riot Games was largely funded by venture capital. In 2008 they raised 7 million in VC funding from Benchmark Capital and FirstMark Capital. Here's the press release: http://www.riotgames.com/sites/default/files/uploads/080710_NEWS_lol_riotbenchmark.pdf http://www.riotgames.com/sites/default/files/uploads/080710_...
bramgg 11y ago
FYI http://yclist.com http://yclist.com and CTRL+F are very helpful :)

22 points by mondoshawan 11y ago

Yes. Minomonsters is one example of several.

Dots raised 10mil in their series A: https://www.crunchbase.com/funding-round/6f028590c883b23dfbeb3513b8e6fa5e# https://www.crunchbase.com/funding-round/6f028590c883b23dfbe...

bigdubs 11y ago

My sense is production companies / studios are a risky investment, but infrastructure (twitch.tv being the prime example) are more of a lucrative target for VCs. The studio risk is that the creative output of the individuals is the value you're investing in. Very few studios produce quality content in a machine like fashion, though there are exceptions (EA maybe? Lucas Arts in it's prime?). Zynga might be another example of a VC funded "gaming" company.

eloisant 11y ago
Indeed: http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/NicholasLovell/20100324/86975/Four_Reasons_Why_VCs_Wont_Fund_Game_Companies.php http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/NicholasLovell/20100324/86975...

raviparikh 11y ago

Machine Zone is the maker of "Game of War" and they were YC W08: https://mobile.twitter.com/ycombinator/status/360501111217590273 https://mobile.twitter.com/ycombinator/status/36050111121759...

dannysu 11y ago

Some examples from YC OMGPOP: http://techcrunch.com/2012/03/21/omgpop-iminlikewithyou-ycombinator/ http://techcrunch.com/2012/03/21/omgpop-iminlikewithyou-ycom... Game of War, Machine Zone: http://blog.ycombinator.com/machine-zone-yc-w08-debuts-game-of-war-ios-mmo-game-supports-hundreds-of-thousands-of-players-simultaneously http://blog.ycombinator.com/machine-zone-yc-w08-debuts-game-... A Thinking Ape

codeisvek 11y ago

http://instantesports.com http://instantesports.com

mondoshawan 11y ago
I guess I should have been more specific: I meant gaming as in video games.
- arkem 11y ago
  Instant eSports is about video games even if they don't themselves make video games.

bartwe 11y ago

Thoughts on investing in a project vs investing in a company?

jokull 11y ago

I worked for Plain Vanilla when they received a big round of financing lead by Sequoia. If you want to ask me questions: jokull@solberg.is

cblock811 11y ago

Code Combat is a game for learning programming. They used to be a marketplace and hold competitions. These days I think they are experimenting with microtransactions.

r0naa 11y ago

I remember attending a talk by Eric Diep from "A thinking Ape" (gaming studio) at Hack the North. If I am not mistaken, he mentioned that they were backed by YC and a couple other high-profile investor in the valley.

boulos 11y ago

Sure. Some examples include: TinyCo (a16z), ngmoco (acquired by DeNA), Gree, Kixeye. Maybe you mean "in the last year"?

mondoshawan 11y ago
Ironically, I /work/ at TinyCo now -- wasn't sure how they did their funding, though -- haven't broached the subject with our CEO yet. =op [edit] Yeah, I meant in the last year.
- interesting_att 11y ago
  Ha, I am a TinyCo alum who started his own gaming company. Let me know if you want to get coffee one of these days. Would highly recommend you have a finished game + some revenue before you hit up institutional investors. In the mean time, find angels who respect you. Believe you are an engineer, so people won't often doubt your ability to produce.

abannin 11y ago

Yes, YC has invested in multiple gaming companies the most successful of which is Machine Zone. As for other VCs, the most active in the sector are Bing Gordon, Rick Thompson, and IDG Ventures USA. Lots of others throw money around, but it's common for investors to specialize in the sector.

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
jlees 11y ago
Signia has also made some gaming investments and had a gaming focused EIR for a while.
- abannin 11y ago
  Signia = Rick Thompson
prbuckley 11y ago
I was in the YC 08 batch with the machine zone guys, great guys. It is worth noting that they didn't really start as a gaming company when YC invested in them. They built a social network app called "add her" that was designed to get people more followers. They pivoted into mobile gaming after YC and had huge success.

joshu 11y ago

Several people in this thread are pointing out Machine Zone. However, when YC invested, it was "Addmired" - http://techcrunch.com/2008/02/13/myspacers-will-love-this-addher-widget-thingy/ http://techcrunch.com/2008/02/13/myspacers-will-love-this-ad...

mcintyre1994 11y ago
They did move to freemium mobile games a while before the Machine Zone/Game of War stuff with some success [0] though. [0] http://techcrunch.com/2012/03/27/freemium-game-dev-addmired-rebrands-as-machine-zone-lands-8m-from-menlo-ventures/ http://techcrunch.com/2012/03/27/freemium-game-dev-addmired-...
- joshu 11y ago
  Yes, but they weren't a gaming company when YC invested.

Plough_Jogger 11y ago

ZowPow was a YC gaming company: https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/zowpow https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/zowpow

onewaystreet 11y ago

The better question is will YC or VCs ever invest in gaming startups again and the answer (at least for YC) is most likely no. There are a few VCs that do specialize in gaming though.

DanBC 11y ago
Do you speak for YC? Where do you get that information?
- onewaystreet 11y ago
  Just my opinion. Look at the last three batches or so of YC startups. The type of companies YC invests in today are the furthest things away from gaming.
tlb 11y ago
YC is open to funding gaming startups if there's some reason to believe they could have a long-term sustainable advantage. With so much time spent gaming, there are surely more great new businesses to be built. I'm most optimistic about game engines, gaming hardware, and esports streaming and news. Or some new business model I haven't heard of yet. (I'm a YC partner)

wowaccount 11y ago

Wow, you are expecting HN to do research for you? The data should be easily available via crunchbase but it seems like you don't want to put the work in for basic research

toddkazakov 11y ago

Chobolabs raised $7.3MM Series A round for the development of multiplayer mobile games. https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/chobolabs https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/chobolabs

fsk 11y ago

You can get a gaming unicorn (Minecraft). However, Mojang didn't start getting interest from investors until they had enough cashflow to sustain their own growth. There have been some recent IPO successes (Zygna, King). (And king.com is starting to look like a one hit wonder with Candy Crush Saga.)

antaviana 11y ago
AFAIK, Mojang didn't take any investor's money. It was just 3 partners and no outside money.
- fsk 11y ago
  Once they were a success, investors did come soliciting. They didn't need it, as they had sufficient cashflow. If Notch had solicited VC before he was a hit, the VCs probably would have just laughed him out of their office.

arkem 11y ago

Riot Games was largely funded by venture capital. In 2008 they raised 7 million in VC funding from Benchmark Capital and FirstMark Capital. Here's the press release: http://www.riotgames.com/sites/default/files/uploads/080710_NEWS_lol_riotbenchmark.pdf http://www.riotgames.com/sites/default/files/uploads/080710_...

bramgg 11y ago

FYI http://yclist.com http://yclist.com and CTRL+F are very helpful :)