M2 MONITOR: Jan 28, 2022
This week’s top news:
- ESL and FaceIt were acquired by Saudi firm Savvy Gaming for $1.5 billion.
- Two companies went public through a SPAC, prescription game company Akili Interactive and visual effects company, DNEG, giving them each over a $billion valuation.
- Unity acquired Ziva Dynamics with their real-time character creation solution.
- Apple hints at their metaverse plans.
INDUSTRY NEWS FOR THE WEEK OF JAN 28, 2022
Apogee Entertainment receives $5m investment
Epic Games Store 2021 Year in Review
Frost Giant Studios raises $25m in Series A funding round
Nexters buys three mobile studios for a combined $100m
Prescription video game company Akili Interactive goes public via SPAC with $1 billion valuation
Saudi-backed Savvy Gaming buys ESL and FACEIT for $1.5 billion US
Spring Games raises $7M from Playtika
Roblox developers and creators earned over $500m in Robux during 2021
Rocky Road raises $2.5M for mobile MMO
ByteDance Launches Non-Metaverse Virtual World
Dropp GG raises $8M to merge the metaverse with the physical world
Emerge raises $13M to bring physical touch to the metaverse
Nike launches Nikeland experience in New York City in collaboration with Roblox
South Korea’s Naver Z launches $100M fund for metaverse creators
The Sandbox and Brinc Announce US$50M Open Metaverse Accelerator Program Funding for 100 startups
M2 INVESTMENT INDEX FOR THE WEEK OF JAN 28, 2022
| DATE | TYPE | COMPANY | INVESTORS – ACQUIRERS | AMOUNT (M) | CATEGORY | FOCUS | CITY |
| 1/24/22 | Acquisition | Tictales | Kwalee | – | Games | Mobile | Paris |
| 1/24/22 | Acquisition | ESL Games & Faceit | Savvy Gaming Group | $1,005.0 | Games | Esports | Cologne |
| 1/24/22 | Acquisition | Ziva Dynamics | Unity | – | Tools | Character Creation | Vancouver |
| 1/25/22 | Investment | Spring Games | Playtika | $7.0 | Games | Blockchain | Tel Aviv |
| 1/25/22 | Investment | Exit Plan Games | Tencent Holdings, SISU Game Ventures, Smok VC, One Two Play, Venture Inc | – | Games | New IP | Warsaw |
| 1/25/22 | Investment | Frost Giant Studios | Kakao Games, Bitkraft Ventures, Global Founders Capital, Riot Games. Gaingels, Mantis Venture Capital | $25.0 | Games | Developer | Irvine |
| 1/25/22 | Investment | Kidas | Overwolf | – | Games | Cyberbulllying Platform | Philadelphia |
| 1/25/22 | Investment | Apogee Entertainment | eWTP Tech Innovation Fund | $5.0 | Games | Developer | Rowlett |
| 1/25/22 | IPO | DNEG | SPAC | $1,600.0 | VFX | Production | London |
| 1/25/22 | Investment | Refract | Sea Limited, | $6.0 | XR | Motion Capture | Singapore |
| 1/26/22 | Acquisition | Volmi Games | Virtuos | – | Games | Art Production | Kyiv |
| 1/26/22 | Investment | Social FIrst | Play Ventures, Joakim Achrén | $2.5 | Games | Cross-Platform Multiplayer | |
| 1/26/22 | Incubator Program | The Sandbox | The Sandbox, Brinc | $50.0 | Metaverse | Incubator Program | San Francisco |
| 1/26/22 | Investment | Dropp.gg | Animoca Brands, Three Arrows Capital, DeFiance Capital, Alameda Research, Spartan Capital, Genblock Capital, Anti Fund VC | $8.0 | Metaverse | NFT Minting Platform – Live Events | San Francisco |
| 1/26/22 | Investment | Alta | Makers Fund, Andreessen Horowitz, Pioneer Fund, Boost VC, muru-D, Thomas Rice. | $12.4 | VR | Games | Sydney |
| 1/27/22 | Acquisition | Cubic Games | Nexters | $33.3 | Games | Mobile | Limossol |
| 1/27/22 | Acquisition | RJ Games | Nexters | $33.3 | Games | Mobile | Limossol |
| 1/27/22 | Acquisition | Royal Ark | Nexters | $33.3 | Games | Mobile | Rostov |
| 1/27/22 | Investment | Rocky Road | Crowberry Capital, Sisu Game Ventures | $2.5 | Games | Casual MMO | Reykjavík |
| 1/27/22 | Investment | PortalOne | Tiger Global, TQ Ventures, Temasek, Avenir Growth, Founders Fund, Talis Capital, Connect Ventures, Animoca Brands, Access industries, Coatue Management, Rogue Capital Partners, SNÖ Ventures, angel investors Facebook, Axie Infinity, Google | $60.0 | Games | Hybrid Platform | Oslo |
| 1/27/22 | Fund | Naver Z – owner of Zepeto | Naver Z | $100.0 | Metaverse | Creators | |
| Source: M2 Insights | |||||||
