San Francisco, August 14, 2020 – Wildlife, one of the world’s largest mobile gaming companies, announced today that it has raised US$120 million in new funding led by Vulcan Capital with participation from existing investor Human Capital. The financing brings the Company’s post-round valuation to nearly US$3 billion. Having raised US$250 million to date, Wildlife has built a portfolio of hit mobile games that span across multiple genres. The deal was executed completely remotely.
The financing comes as Wildlife continues to experience significant growth, having recently launched two successful titles that are amongst its largest already, Tennis Clash and Zooba, and reached more than 2 billion downloads. The Company has consistent and profitable organic growth of ~70% per year, on average, since its inception and today has over 100 million monthly active users across its games. Very few mobile companies can claim such a track record over the same timeframe. Wildlife is uniquely positioned, with multiple titles in different genres in the fastest-growing gaming category, which accounts for more than 50% of the video game industry.
Wildlife will utilize the capital to continue to grow its existing titles, further accelerate its new game development engine, and build the infrastructure for the future of mobile games. Wildlife also plans to continue its investment in world-class talent as it scales globally. “Unlike other gaming companies that raise funds to buy games, we will use most of the resources from this round to expand our creative powerhouse,” says Wildlife co-founder Arthur Lazarte.
“We will continue to work to attract the world’s best game designers. We have an entrepreneurial DNA and following this new investment round, we want to become a platform for the world's best game developers, allowing them to create their dream games,” says Victor Lazarte, co-founder and CEO of Wildlife. “We will offer all the infrastructure these developers need to see their games achieve much more success here than elsewhere.”
Wildlife is currently in talks with some of the World's most successful game developers. Each of them will benefit from creative freedom to follow their instincts, a community of the world’s best game designers, a powerful shared technology ecosystem, and an innovative business model that makes them vested in the success of their ideas.
“Over the next two years, we plan to invest up to US$200 million to make Wildlife the go-to place for the best game designers in the world”, says Victor.
Vulcan Capital, which is the multi-billion investment arm of Vulcan Inc., the company founded by Microsoft Co-Founder and philanthropist Paul G. Allen, has invested across the gaming sector, which includes Epic Games as well as other technology giants such as Uber and Spotify. “Vulcan Capital is excited to support Wildlife in building a generational company in the mobile sector -- initially as it continues to deliver highly popular games, but ultimately by delivering a platform for game developers,” said Rafael Costa, Partner at Vulcan Capital. “Wildlife has demonstrated a unique and consistent ability to efficiently develop, launch, and sustain multiple titles across genres, resulting in a leading and profitable growth trajectory.”
Human Capital - a hybrid venture capital firm, recruiting company, and engineering talent agency - also participated in the round. In addition to providing capital, they have also been instrumental in building Wildlife’s engineering team. “We share a belief in the power of great talent,” said Human Capital co-founder and CEO Armaan Ali. “We’re proud to play a small part in furthering Wildlife’s mission.”
Existing investors include Benchmark Capital and Bessemer Venture Partners as well as strategic individual investors including, Javier Olivan, VP of Growth at Facebook; Ric Elias, Co-Founder and CEO of Red Ventures; Micky Malka, Managing Partner at Ribbit Capital; Divesh Makan, Partner at ICONIQ Capital; and Hugo Barra, VP of VR at Facebook.
About Wildlife
Wildlife is one of the world’s biggest mobile gaming companies. In the space of nine years, it has launched more than 60 games, including hits such as Sniper 3D, Zooba, Tennis Clash, War Machines, and Colorfy. The company has an ambitious vision, and its games have been downloaded more than 2 billion times.
Founded by brothers Victor and Arthur Lazarte in 2011, the company has around 700 employees in five offices around the world, and many positions available - especially in game design, engineering and growth. If you want to learn more about Wildlife, and about our amazing career opportunities, visit us at www.wildlifestudios.com