Finnish game-maker Supercell confirms $130m secondary funding, raised at a $770m valuation

Finnish game-maker Supercell has confirmed that it raised a $130 million in secondary funding, led by Index Ventures, back in February. The deal values the 100-man startup at $770 million, and is a remarkable feat considering that it has just two games on Apple’s iOS platform.

News of a large round had been much-speculated, and now CEO Ilkka Paananen has confirmed to Forbes that it did indeed take place. Index alone invested $52.5 million, with existing stakeholders Institutional Venture Partners and Atomico also involved in the round.

What’s particularly interesting is that the financing was ‘not entirely necessary’, according to Paananen. Rather than needing the cash, Supercell went in for it as a ‘thank you’ to its early investors and employees (who are given stock) whose efforts have contributed to the company’s impression daily revenues of $2.4 million (more than double the $1 million it was booking in December 2012). The funding came courtesy of its existing investors — which include Accel — who offloaded a total of 16.7 percent.

The figures are seriously impressive. Forbes reports that Supercell made $179 million ($104 million in pure profit) during the last quarter. Last year, the firm netted $100 million, this year already it is on course for $800 million, with the suggest that it could pass $1 billion in revenues.

Considering the issues plaguing the gaming industry’s establishment — namely EA and Zynga — the success is fascinating.

Supercell’s two titles — Clash of Clans and Hay Day — see 8.5 million players per day, who play an average of ten times per day. Paananen says that focusing on fun, rather than making money, is the key to Supercell’s success and — based on the facts — it is certainly hard to disagree with that.

Supercell has big plans to come. According to Forbes, over the next three years it is looking to expand into Asia — where companies like billion-dollar Japanese companies GREE and DeNA are seeing huge success with mobile gaming — and “probably” list the company publicly. That’s further good news for the employees and investors, and, you suspect, others in the industry may just begin following the Finnish startup a little closer from now.

Headline image via 401(K) 2013 / Flickr