Japan gaming start-up raises Series A, hits $1b valuation

The round was co-led by Josh Buckley, founder of US-based Mino Games and now an angel investor, and Sequoia Capital Global Equities, which was established to extend the venture capital firm’s technology coverage into public markets.

Additional commitments came from KSK Angel Fund, a vehicle established by Japanese footballer Keisuke Honda; Dreamers VC, a VC firm created by Honda and film star Will Smith to connect Japanese corporate investors with US start-ups; Mistletoe Singapore, which is controlled by Taizo Son, a Korean Japanese businessman who founded mobile gaming company GungHo; Japan’s Digital Garage; US-based early-stage VC firm Caffeinated Capital; and cross-border investor Sozo Ventures.

Playco was established by Michael Carter and Justin Waldron, co-founders of Game Closure and Zynga, respectively, and game developers Takeshi Otsuka and Teddy Cross. Otsuka was among the pioneers of social gaming in Asia during his tenure at DeNA’s Mobage portal, while Cross worked on HTML5 gaming technologies with Carter at Game Closure, according to a statement.

Playco describes itself as the world’s first “instant play gaming company,” the product of combining Carter’s background in building computing platforms and Waldron’s experience in massive social gaming. The platform offers free-to-play games targeting large audiences, achieving monetization through in-game purchases and opt-in advertising. Carter and Waldron acquired technology from Game Closure and then recruited Otsuka and Cross to give the company a more global reach.

“Connecting players instantly with their friends and family sounds simple, but it’s only possible because we’ve created the world’s most advanced web browser streaming game engine, with the backend infrastructure and analytics to handle billions of players,” said Waldron.

The company is technology-agnostic, allowing users to connect and instantly play games whether they are coming from a generic cloud streaming platform, Google Play Instant, iOS App Clips, Facebook Instant Games, or Snapchat Minis. This means Playco’s teams can build games faster and develop a better understanding of the needs of players.

The new capital will go towards establishing more partnerships with leading social and messaging companies. Playco’s first game is expected to launch on the platform later this year.

“We think that games shouldn’t be trapped inside installed apps or downloads. Instead, we believe that playing together should be as easy as messaging or talking together. Whether it’s Parcheesi or an MMORPG [massively multi-player online roleplay games], we believe there is a game for everyone and that how we play together is a crucial part of how humans socialize,” Carter added.

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• Topics
• North Asia
• Technology
• Early-stage
• Japan
• TMT
• Sequoia Capital