Dream Games raises $255M Series C
Royal Unicorn status for 'Royal Match' producers Dream Games studio, raising $255M and the bar for Gaming in Turkey.
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The Turkish mobile gaming startup Dream Games has successfully raised an unprecedented $255M in its latest funding round. The Series C round, coming shortly after their Mega Round in 2021, was led by Index Ventures and subscribed by Makers Fund, IVP, Kora, Balderton Capital, and funds managed by BlackRock.
Founded in 2019, Dream Games set forth to match world-class technologies with bursting next-gen creativity to produce friendly and engaging mobile games. Landing its investor interest was their flagship Game “Royal Match”. Royal Match is a free-to-play game with thousands of levels and many areas where King Robert needs help restoring the Royal Castle's former glory. In Royal Match, a player can join a team and get help from teammates. Both as a team and individually, a player can compete for local and global championships.
Gaming seems to have come a long way for investors, with funding rounds dating back to 2016 where Turkey-based gaming startups raised their second-highest record of 6 deals. What’s particularly striking about this ecosystem is the impact of investment in Early Stage deals over the years creating a solid foreground for the major breakthrough in 2021. At a gradual growth rate, the gaming ecosystem closed 3 deals in 2017 & 2018 and 7 deals in 2019 & 2020, where all 20 deals were invested in Early-Stage rounds (Pre-Seed, Seed, and Pre-Series A). In 2021, everything changed for the Turkish gaming industry as it observed a 7,004% + YoY growth in funding along with the emergence of its first-ever Series A (5) and Series B (1) rounds. Beyond the impressive maturity of the ecosystem, emerging with its first-ever Megadeal in a $155M Series B round raised by Dream Games in 2021. Did Gaming make it to the top 5 industries in Tukrye over 2021? Find out by downloading our free State of Startup Funding-Emerging Venture Markets 2022 Report.
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This exceptional series C Mega Round takes Dream Games’ total funds raised to $468M since its founding, almost tripling its valuation to $2.75Bn in a little more than six months, the company stated on Wednesday. In an interview with TechCrunch last June, Dream Games Co-founder/CEO Soner Aydemir explained the methods behind their flagship game and opportunities for game expansions “We believe in Pixar’s approach. When Pixar started, it was very low frequency, a movie every 2-3 years but eventually, the rate increased. And it will be similar for us. This year we need to focus on Royal Match but if we can find a way to create other games, we will.”
With their latest funding, the company plans to more than double its headcount to 200 people and publish a new game this year, following its debut release Royal Match, which the company says is among the top 10 grossing games in the United States and the UK. “The success and growth of Royal Match exceeded all of our expectations,” said Stephane Kurgan, the Index Ventures partner who led the investment, and former chief operating officer at King, in a statement. “In eight months, Royal Match has become one of the most played mobile games of 2021. Dream Games has assembled one of the best teams in the industry, with a rare combination of creative talent, engineering expertise, and relentless work ethic. They’ve already shifted the norms around what counts as excellence in mobile gaming, and we’re excited to see where they go next.”
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