US-based social gaming developer CrowdStar has launched a $10m corporate venturing fund to invest in start-up gaming companies only two months after securing its own $23m series A round.
CrowdStar’s StarFund will provide up to $250,000 to other games developers for their mobile products.
CrowdStar raised $23m in May from corporate venturing units from US-listed chip company Intel, US media company Time Warner, China-based online game developer The9 and NV Investments, which is businessman Aviv Nevo’s venture capital firm. CrowdStar was set up in 2008.
At the time of the A round, Mike Buckley, a managing director of Intel Capital, said: "CrowdStar has accomplished a great deal with limited outside capital raised which is a testament to its innovative, creative and forward looking team. Social games are a fast growing category on connected computing devices and we believe CrowdStar is well positioned to continue to capitalise on this trend."
In April, Rachel Lam, group managing director of Time Warner Investments, also said: "We have long been impressed with CrowdStar’s track record of success in the social games space and their analytical, data-driven approach to building a fast-growing games business. Time Warner’s unique IP [intellectual property] franchises and extensive media resources coupled with a social games leader like CrowdStar has the potential to truly impact the way consumers engage in social gaming."