Chinese investors in $181m round for US-based Unity
Unity Technologies, a US-based video game engine maker, has closed a $181 million Series C round of funding led by DFJ Growth, with participation from China Investment Corporation (CIC) and Chinese early-stage investor FreeS Fund.
Others in the round include Thrive Capital and technology entrepreneur Max Levchin, alongside existing investors Sequoia Capital and Sino-US VC firm WestSummit Capital.
Based in San Francisco, Unity develops software tools that are used in the creation of various mobile games, including the current hit Pokemon Go. Game developers can export their games to over 25 different platforms across 2D, 3D, augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR).
The company estimates that its game engine is used in more than 31% of the top 1,000 grossing mobile games globally. In addition to that, Unity claimed that about 90% of Samsung's Gear VR content is being made with Unity.
"Unity's platform has revolutionized the game industry by allowing any size studio from Indie to Triple-A to create beautiful and compelling games and experiences and monetize them with their advertising and analytics services," said Barry Schuler, a partner at DFJ Growth, in a statement.
He added that Unity will accelerate their development of various game engines used in AR and VR hardware platforms.
Frees Fund was established by Feng Li and Ben Lin, former partners at IDG Capital Partners. It launched its debut fund last year with a target of RMB1 billion ($160 million). Shanghai-listed Zhejiang Daily Media Group is among the LPs.
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