Singapore-based mobile social gaming startup Daylight Studios has received an investment of S$839,000 (US$660,000) led by seed-stage venture capital firm Red Dot Ventures, amid a rise in the popularity of gaming on smartphones and tablets.
Daylight Studios said it would use the funding to hire more people and boost its game production quality, and that it is working on a range of smartphone games due to launch this year.
The startup published its first game in 2011 called “Reign of Heroes” (also its flagship game), which is being played by more than 1 million users. It has also recently signed a publishing deal with Marvelous AQL Europe for its upcoming social role-playing game “Conquest Age”.
Red Dot Ventures Managing Director Leslie Loh said his company is capitalizing on the growth sector of mobile gaming and wants to help grow the local ecosystem of developing mobile games.
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Mobile games are becoming more popular with consumers as smartphones and tablets have multiple uses extending beyond just gaming, making them popular with a broader range of users. Research firms App Annie and the International Data Corporation (IDC) released a report for Q1 2013 noting that tablets and smartphones continued to dominate the handheld console space, making three times more revenue during the period, with Asia-Pacific leading regional spending across all gaming platforms.
For this reason, companies are also eyeing online gaming sites that have the potential to migrate to mobile. Last month, Singaporean media company MediaCorp acquired a majority stake in online gaming site Cubinet Interactive for an undisclosed amount.
Headline image via Thinkstock
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