Vgames raises $142M for its third gaming fund

Vgames raised $142 million in its third round of funding to continue investing in the world’s top gaming communities.

Led by Eitan Reisel and Daniel Mironov, the fund (named Vgames) will invest in game studios at various stages, supporting talented startups and helping them grow.

“The third investment is very exciting, since this was an idea five years ago,” said Reisel, the CEO, in an interview with GamesBeat.

Previous investments were $60 million in 2020 it is $141 million in 2021.

“We are proud to be one of the leading investors in sports around the world. It’s an opportunity to support talented startups from the early days to the future. Vgames has led the industry’s first ventures while also leading some of the mega brands in its portfolio,” said Reisel.

Since the launch of Vgames in March 2020, the fund has invested in 38 companies worldwide, making it one of the most active funds in the world. It also invested in “gamification” initiatives.

“We’re on top of what we’re doing,” Reisel said.

Notable investments include InnPlay Labs (acquired by Playtika for $300 million), SuperPlay (acquired by Playtika for $1.95 billion), 1047 Games, Candivore (top ten Match 3 game in the world), GOAT (founder of Plarium), Elyzio , 44 Pixels and AMP among others. The output numbers are in the billions of dollars.

“From Day One we wanted to be a development fund. My belief is that the more support our founders have, the better we are,” said Reisel. “I am confident in the model we have created and am proud to support world-class businesses from Israel, the Middle East, Europe, the US, and other regions around the world. . Our founders are our success,” Reisel said.

Vgames is proud to be a unique financial group owned by Mironov; Reisel; David Digmi, COO; and Riki Papa Pnini, IR and marketing director.

“We’re still very consumer oriented,” Reisel said. “Creating content, it’s a lot of game studios. It’s very similar in the way of making one money and two money. We’re happy with it so why change?”

All team members have active roles in finance and history. This close-knit, hands-on team helps the fund make quick decisions and maintain a trusted business-to-business relationship. The fund is sector agnostic, it invests in the early days of a company up to A and around growth.

Reisel said that online gaming has reached a huge milestone, and it works well to launch games on multiple platforms, including PC, console and mobile.

When asked about investing in the blockchain or metaverse or AI games, Reisel said the firm does not believe in these things. They think of crypto as a trading platform, not a gaming platform.

“I think it was very aggressive in how it got into the market. We’ll still see these moves, but I think it’s going to take time. As a fund, we took a few positions,” Reisel said. “You won’t see big crypto names on our list. We’re very careful about product development. I think it’s not about the technology. It’s about the type of product you’re playing. We always want to invest in games that we believe can attract a large market.”

Reisel said he doesn’t think AI will enter the gaming space any time soon. He sees great value in casual and mid-level games, art, narrative design and design in terms of human potential. But he believes that AI will help reduce production costs.

“Maybe if you want to put 10 trees on a map, you can do it with AI,” he said.

The fund recently led a $50 million round for one of its companies. Some of the resources the fund offers are non-cash investments to support growing companies instead of equity – a win win for founders and investors.

“We invest in teams, content and believe in a data-driven approach,” said Mironov, partner and game analyst at Vgames, in a statement. “Based on the segment of the company we analyze the brand, metrics if applicable and growth opportunities, and based on what drives our financial decisions. We are looking for the strongest teams out there, teams that are not afraid to think big and tackle red ocean opportunities. We are often asked if we invest in Mobile/PC/Consoles.”

Mironov added, “Our answer has been unanimous: We have the first option. Therefore, as long as the players are happy to play, as long as there is a strong business to support it and as long as there is a great potential, we would like to explore it.”

Vgames intends to maintain the same revenue and invest rapidly to expand its portfolio and further support the existing portfolio.

Among the funds, Reisel has hope for 1047 Games’ and is waiting for the launch in May of Splitgate 2. Reisel said that he sees companies like 1047 Games benefiting from remote work.

Vgames hopes to hire its first investor outside of Israel, although the fund has invested globally with companies in Europe, India, Turkey and the Middle East.

“We’re here to take advantage if we find opportunities to move forward,” Reisel said.

There were times when the company made money every month, he said. He said he hopes that things are going well in Israel.

He said: “I live in Israel.” “I have to be optimistic.”

And he said he is hopeful that people will continue to play.

“The world’s population is only increasing. The connection is growing. I think that games today can run on low-end devices in three countries – it’s very important, “said Reisel. “We focus on this with our companies,” he said. “Games can be found on any device. We see a lot of innovation in the industry, and they have an IP they will continue to show for years.”