Legend Capital, DCM commit $30 million to China’s Happy Elements
Legend Capital has led a Series B round of funding worth $30 million for Chinese social gaming company Happy Elements. Existing investor DCM also participated.
Happy Elements plans to use the capital to further its push into global markets and also enter the mobile entertainment market with the launch of several new smartphone games next year. The company released its first PC-based social game as recently as 2009 but has grown rapidly, its initial staff of eight having expanded to 300. It plans to launch at least eight new games in 2012.
Happy Elements claims to be the one of the leading Asian social gaming developers on Facebook, with a particular focus on the Japan, China and South Korea markets.
"Social networking websites are one of the most important innovations of the Internet era," said Erhai Liu, managing director of Legend Capital, in a statement. "Legend Capital pays close attention to social platforms and SNS applications. Happy Elements is a top 10 social game developer. The company is rich in experience with product research and development, operations, and international publishing. We believe that Happy Elements will continue to provide high quality social game services."
As of September 2011, Legend Capital had invested in more than 100 companies across the TMT, outsourcing and professional services, cleantech, healthcare, consumer and manufacturing sectors. Eighteen of its portfolio companies have gone public. It has previously invested alongside early-stage specialist DCM in Beijing Man Xie Education Science and Technology and e-commerce site Mbaobao.com.
DCM has a strong track record in backing social gaming and networking companies. In April it led an $18 million Series B round of funding in PapayaMobile, a Beijing-based firm that produces social games for use on Google's Android platform. DCM earlier announced it would launch what it claims is the world's first ever fund dedicated to developers that offer Android software and services.
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