Munich / Berlin, April 03, 2012 – Munich-based venture capital firm Target Partners (www.targetpartners.de), in collaboration with High Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) and Estag Capital, has taken a financial stake in GameGenetics (www.gamegenetics.com), as part of a series-A financing round. The financial investment is in the seven-digit Euro figure, and will support the Berlin-based aggregator and distributor of free-to-play online games in its planned expansion into the UK and US markets.
GameGenetics GmbH enables game developers and publishers to market more effectively and to speed up their global growth. The company also supports traffic and media partners across the globe with a first-class line of games. GameGenetics works with all the big-name game publishers like Bigpoint, Travian Games, and Ubisoft, marketing a portfolio of approximately 150 high-quality browser and client-based games in over 30 languages. With its B2C portal, POPMOG (www.popmog.com), GameGenetics also operates its own central platform for gamers, who can access the continuously-growing portfolio of popular online games there. The company now plans to partner with more British and US portals and traffic partners, supplying them with a varied portfolio of games and the expertise to optimize traffic monetization.
Berthold von Freyberg, a partner at Target Partners, is convinced of the firm’s strong growth potential: “The extensive portfolio of free-to-play titles, the strong network of traffic and media partners, and the global approach are truly unique. GameGenetics unifies in a single place all the elements that a successful startup needs: The right team, innovative technology, impressive growth, and the opportunity to form and develop a big market segment.”
GameGenetics was founded in 2009 in Berlin. The company’s team of 25 is led by founder and CEO Alexander Piutti: “We are happy that Target Partners, one of Germany’s leading early-stage venture capital firms, shares our vision. Together, we will continue our successful course, strongly expanding our distribution strategy, and further strengthening our competency in the area of marketing technology for online games. This investment comes at a key time for us when we are actively expanding our client base in the UK and US.”
Markus Kreßmann, senior investment manager at HTGF, summarized the series-A engagement: “In 2011, GameGenetics had an average monthly revenue growth rate of more than 30 percent, and was able to greatly expand its games portfolio, which is an impressive team success. High-Tech Gründerfonds, as the previous lead investor, sees in Target Partners the ideal partner to continue that success story.”
About Target Partners:
With €225 million under management, Target Partners is one of the leading early-stage venture capital firms in Germany. Target Partners invests in new start-up and early stage companies, and supports them with venture capital during their build-out and expansion phases. With many years of experience as managers, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, the team at Target Partners supports entrepreneurs in developing and marketing products and services, building organizations, raising money, and taking companies public, in Europe and the United States. For more details: www.targetpartners.de, follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/targetpartners or become a friend on Facebook: facebook.com/targetpartners.
About GameGenetics:
GameGenetics GmbH is a leading aggregator and distributor of free-to-play online games. With its first-class line up of products, GameGenetics, supports game developers and publishers on a global scale, in marketing and selling their products, and also traffic partners and media partners across the globe. GameGenetics works with all the leading game publishers, such as Bigpoint, Travian Games, and Ubisoft, marketing a portfolio of approximately 150 high-end browser and client-based games in over 30 languages. The company has already won some key awards, such as the eco award as “the Most Innovative Content Startup of 2010″, and the Red Herring 100 Europe 2010 award; these awards highlight the success of the strategy and the business model of GameGenetics. For more information: www.gamegenetics.com and http://partner.popmog.com.
Source: Games Industry Blog
In a “good news/bad news” sort of situation, I always like starting with the good news first. Maybe it’s just me, but it makes the bad news easier to stomach. So, try this on for size: The Fighting Fantasy game books were originally first published in 1982, starting with The Warlock of Firetop Mountain and blossoming into a full-blown series of gamebooks. What’s a gamebook? Well, imagine one of those choose your own adventure novels from when you were a kid (You do remember those, right?) except with more interactivity. Instead of simply turning to page 92 to to jump across a pit or turning to page 59 to go down the tunnel to the right, you need to roll actual dice to do a skill check to see if you can make it across the pit.
