With Hit Social Game Happy Farm, Chinese Developer 5 Minutes Rai. With Hit Social Game Happy Farm, Chinese Developer 5 Minutes Raises $3.5 Million from DFJ It’s not just western social gaming companies that are raising money these days. 5 Minutes, the China-based developer of cross-platform sensation Happy Farm, has closed a $3.5 million first round from venture firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson, according to Chinese media and sources in the country. This marks the second recent funding of a China-based social game developer. The other was Rekoo, which earlier this week reportedly raised $1.5 million from Infinity Venture Partners. Happy Farm, a virtual farming game, has been popular on Chinese social networks including Xiaonei, Kaixin, and Tencent’s QZone. Like Rekoo, 5 Minutes moved on to Facebook this past summer, and its game now has 3.16 million monthly active users and 1.12 million daily active useres, according to AppData.
Sponsored Post Hands-On Social Media Training for Beginners. Zynga and DST talk about their big funding deal in social games. Mark Pincus is at the center of the social gaming explosion. The chief executive of Zynga has the most popular games on Facebook, and he just raised $180 million from Russian investor Digital Sky Technologies. Since early 2007, Zynga has ridden Facebook’s success and created the most popular games on the social network, from FarmVille to Cafe World.
Yuri Milner is chief executive of DST, which has invested in Facebook and a number of other gaming, social network and Internet companies in recent years. We talked with them about the deal this morning. VB: What was the timing on this deal? YM: We first met a few months ago. VB: The valuation of Zynga is quite high.
YM: I don’t think we can comment on the exact number. VB: Can you explain from your point of view, why Zynga is a valuable company? YM: We have obviously done our due diligence. VB: Mark, does this put off a need for an initial public offering? VB: Mark, what was good for you about choosing DST as such a big investor here? Russian Facebook Investor Adds Stake in Zynga. Social game maker Zynga raises $180M from Russian investor Digit. The Russians are coming. First, Russian investor Digital Sky Technologies bought a $200 million stake in Facebook.
Now that same investor has invested $180 million in Zynga, the fast-growing social game company. The New York Times first reported the news, but it has since been confirmed by Zynga. The investment no doubt gives Zynga a stratospheric valuation, and it shows that global investors are closely watching the social gaming industry that is profiting from giving away games for free and collecting payments for virtual goods purchases. It also shows how much clout the company has accumulated in just a couple of years on riding the social gaming craze on Facebook. Other investors include Tiger Global, a New York hedge fund, and venture firms Institutional Venture Partners and Andreessen Horowitz. How could Zynga be worth so much money? And that’s probably how the Russians did their math and came up with a valuation. Don't let cyber attacks kill your game! Will Zynga Use $180 MM Funding For Shopping – GigaOM. Rumor: Zynga to Introduce Employee Stock Sale Plan as It Waits O.
Zynga is planning to let at least some employees sell a portion of their stock in the hot social gaming company to outside investors, according to two industry sources. Institutional Venture Partners, a late-stage venture firm that has already invested in the company, is the purchaser of all the employee stock going up for sale, one source tells us. [Updates: Zynga has announced $180 million in funding led by DST, with hedge fund Tiger Global, Andreessen Horowitz, and IVP participating. The New York Times has also just published an article interviewing Zynga executives and board about the deal. The employee stock sale is on, and Zynga employees will be able to sell 10% of vested shares, at $19 per share, according to a new source. One of our previous sources clarifies that IVP has separately been buying up Zynga stock on secondary markets, while another source adds that $50 million has been allocated for the Zynga employee stock sale.]
Long-Term Plans. Zynga Receives Investment from Digital Sky Technologies. This site uses some unobtrusive cookies to store information on your computer. Some cookies on this site are essential, and the site won't work as expected without them. These cookies are set when you submit a form, login or interact with the site by doing something that goes beyond clicking on simple links. We also use some non-essential cookies to anonymously track visitors or enhance your experience of the site. If you're not happy with this, we won't set these cookies but some nice features of the site may be unavailable.Some cookies on this site are essential, and the site won't work as expected without them.
These cookies are set when you submit a form, login or interact with the site by doing something that goes beyond clicking on simple links. We also use some non-essential cookies to anonymously track visitors or enhance your experience of the site. To control third party cookies, you can also adjust your browser settings. (One cookie will be set to store your preference) Playdom Funding Round Totals $43M. Social games developer Playdom has reportedly secured $43 million in venture financing, with an equity stake based on a pre-money valuation of $260 million. New Enterprise Associates, Rick Thompson, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Norwest Venture Partners reportedly invested in the company, the first outside round of funding Playdom has participated in.
A certain amount of speculation has flowed from the news — Tech Crunch, which reported the investment, speculates that the space's arguable leader (based on monthly average users), Zynga, is worth as much as $1 billion. UPDATE: Playdom CEO John Pleasants said in a statement confirming the funding event: "We are focused on growing Playdom into a world-class gaming company. A number of compelling games are in development for 2010, and we’re bullish about our future and the potential to bring people together through social gaming. Games appeal to everyone, everywhere. 80 and come from more than 150 countries, so the opportunity for growth.
Rekoo Gets $1.5 Million in Funding. Chinese Social Game Developer Rekoo Gets $1.5 Million in Funding Beijing-based Rekoo has been churning out social gaming hits not just on Facebook but on social networks in Asia — and now it has landed $1.5 million in funding from China and Israel-based venture fund Infinity Venture Partners, according to reports.
Readers of Inside Social Games will know Rekoo for its Facebook app, Animal Paradise and Sunshine Ranch, that together total 6.75 million monthly active users and 2.33 million daily active users, according to AppData. Both games are simulations, with the former letting you raise virtual animals (or even steal them from your friends) while the latter is a virtual farming game. They’ve grown to prominence over the last half a year or so, as we’ve been tracking. In fact, after Japanese social network Mixi opened its site to third-party developers this past August, Rekoo moved in quick and made a version of the game for the site. Sponsored Post. Wooga raised €5m ($7.5m) in funding led by Balderton.