M2 MONITOR: Feb 18, 2022
This week we had lots of investment and launch activity:
- Grease Monkey Games acquired by Animoca Brands
- There are over 500 million Epic Game accounts
- Meta’s Horizon has more than 300,000 users
- Netflix working on BioShock movie
- Wild Capture lanuch Digital Human Platform
INDUSTRY NEWS FOR THE WEEK OF: Feb 18, 2022
Amazon Studios partners with dj2 Entertainment for more game-movie adaptations
Animoca Brands acquires indie game studio Grease Monkey Games
Cyberpunk and Witcher 3 game director launches new studio Rebel Wolves
EA veterans form Arctic7 studio
Epic Games says there are now more than 500 million Epic Games accounts
Former Cyberpunk 2077 and Witcher 3 devs form Rebel Wolves game studio
Joystick Ventures launches, aims to fuel indie developers
Lightforge Games, led by former Epic Games employee, raises $7M
Mixmob, a Solana-based play-to earn game, secures $7 million in funding
Mobile Game Developer Tripledot Studios Raises $116M in Series B Financing
Nacon acquires Daedalic Entertainment
Nintendo currently uninterested in building a metaverse
Play-to-earn game MixMob receives round of funding
Return Entertainment raises €5.3 million in funding to create cloud-native games
Refract Technologies raises S$8.5 million to fund new products
Veteran video game developers, visual effects experts launch new Vancouver B.C. studio Blinkmoon
Why Africa will be the world’s fastest growing video game market
3D social network BUD raises $15M in Series A+ round
Intel’s Raja Koduri’s thoughts on Powering the Metaverse
JPMorgan Is the First Bank Into the Metaverse, Looks at Business Opportunities
Microsoft Shuts Down AltspaceVR’s Social Hubs to Combat Harassment
Nintendo currently uninterested in building a metaverse
Ready Player Me brings its avatars to 8th Wall’s metaverse experiences
$2700 Linux Standalone Headset With i7 Chip Ships ‘No Earlier Than Q4’
Meta’s ‘Horizon’ Social VR Platform Surpasses 300,000 Users in 3 Months
New state of the art XR studio launches in New York
Niantic and Sony partner for bring hi-fidelity audio AR
Snapchat continues its expansion into augmented reality
Talespin raises $20M to train workers using spatial technologies
Creator Platform Spotter Raises $200 Million
Enlighten 4: pushing the boundaries of immersion with the next generation of illumination technology
Epic’s Matrix demo built using Unreal Engine 5 amasses 6 million downloads
RPG Maker Unite announced for PC, now uses Unity Engine
Reallusion’s Character Creator 4 and digital humans
Sony Ventures Corporation Actively Investing New Investment Fund “Sony Innovation Fund 3 L.P.”
Soul Machines raises $70m as market for ‘digital humans’ grows
Verizon 5G Home Internet Now Reaches Over 30 Million Households in the US
INVESTMENT INDEX FOR THE WEEK OF: Feb 18, 2022
| TYPE | COMPANY | INVESTORS – ACQUIRERS | AMOUNT (M) | ROUND | CATEGORY | FOCUS |
| Investment | BUD | Qiming Ventures Partners, Source Code Capital, GGV Capital, Sky9 Capital | $15.0 | Series A | Metaverse | 3D Social Platform |
| Investment | Tripledot Studios | Access Industries, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Eldridge | $116.0 | Series B | Games | Mobile |
| Investment | Return Entertainment | Bitkraft Ventures, Sisu Game Ventures, Vgames, 1Up Fund, Smok Ventures | $6.0 | Funding | Games | Cloud Gaming |
| Acquisition | Leiker Studio | Focus | – | – | Games | Developer |
| Acquisition | 5minlab | Krafton | $19.9 | – | Games | Mobile |
| Fund | Guild Accelerator Program | Animoca Brands, Brinc | $30.0 | Fund | Games | Play to Earn |
| Venture Fund | Joystick Ventures | Xsolla, Nazca Ventures | – | Fund | Games | Indies |
| Investment | Encore Studio | Battery Ventures, 468 Capital, Parade Ventures, Nomad Ventures, Moving Capital, Kayak Ventures, Gaingels | $9.0 | – | Creators | Live Music |
| Investment | Spotter | Softbank Vision Fund 2 | $200.0 | Series D | Creators | Platform |
| Merger | Netmarble US | Kabam | – | – | Games | Mobile |
| Investment | Tailspin | Seek Investments, Allomer Capital, Pearson Ventures, Accenture Ventures, Go1, Sony Innovation Fund. | $20.0 | – | AR/VR | Training |
| Acquisition | Daedalic Entertainment | Nacon | $60.0 | – | Games | Developer |
| Acquisition | Grease Monkey Games | Animoca Brands | – | – | Games | Indie |
| Investment | DeHorizon | Griffin Gaming Partners, Circle Ventures | – | Venture | Games | Developer |
| Source: M2 Insights | ||||||
AMD’s Market Cap Surpasses Intel for the First Time in History
AppLovin reported FQ4 2021 earnings
Embracer reported FQ3 2022 earnings
Nvidia Q4 revenues grow 53% to $7.64B as it focuses on post-Arm strategy
Roblox revenue soars 108% to $1.9bn in 2021
SEC widens investigation into Activision Blizzard misconduct handling
Starbreeze net sales reached $13.5 million in 2021
Supercell revenue increases 45% to $2.24bn in 2021
