Russia-based online communications and entertainment provider Mail.Ru launched a corporate venture capital unit yesterday that will invest up to $100m in game developers.
Mail.Ru’s Games Investment Division will invest in domestic and international game studios and publishers, and has already allocated the first $10m of capital, though it did not disclose which companies will receive the funding.
In addition to equity financing, the fund will also consider acquisition deals and royalty investments. Mail.Ru’s gaming business currently consists of more than 50 games with a total audience of roughly 100 million worldwide.
Ilya Karpinsky, director of Games Investment Division, said: “With this new division, we aim to discover and develop promising games on the global market, and drive international expansion of the local products.
“Not only will it offer financing to the teams, it will also help them develop their businesses, particularly by providing access to Mail.Ru Group’s internal resources and services. The companies will be able to get all-round support, leverage our software solutions, extensive analytics and unique marketing opportunities on a global scale.”
The launch of the unit follows Mail.Ru’s acquisition of Pixonic, the Russia-based developer of mobile third-person shoot-em-up War Robots, for $30m in October 2016.