DeNA and Sega, two Japan-based online games developers, have sold Pokelabo from their corporate venturing portfolios to trade buyer Gree for $175m.
In 2010, DeNA’s Incubate Fund and venture capital firm DCM invested a combined $11m (reportedly split $4.5m and $6.5m respectively) in Pokelabo. Last year, games maker Sega invested an undisclosed amount in Pokelabo for 19%, while DCM retained 20%, according to news provider TechCrunch.
In an interview with news provider Wall Street Journal, Gen Isayama, partner at DCM, said Pokelabo, which was founded in 2007, was posting $4m to $5m in sales per month and the sale was just part of a wave of consolidation from Japanese companies.
He said: “I think it [consolidation] will continue for a while. With DeNA and Gree so profitable, unlike Zynga or Facebook, they have the ability to play aggressively and really think about how they can accelerate through acquisition.”
Gree has a market capitalisation of $4.1bn based on net income of $154m from $502m in revenues in the third quarter and has previously bought Funzio and OpenFeint.
In April last year, Gree committed to a $100m venture fund managed by DCM investing in companies using the Android mobile operating system.