Nokia Growth Partners, the corporate venturing unit affiliated with Finland-based communications company Nokia, has invested $6m into Swedish-based MAG Interactive, a mobile game developer, alongside an undisclosed private investor.
The investment follows the success of the company’s first game launch in March 2012. Word game Ruzzle has since been downloaded over 45 million times.
Chief executive of MAG, David Hasselberg, said: “Bringing such an experienced investment group on board at this stage of our development allows us to create a portfolio of successful games, while maintaining the DNA of our company. Becoming a significant studio recognised for mobile social games has been achieved by our commitment to constant improvement of our products, an approach that has made Ruzzle such a global success story. We are looking forward to working with NGP to maximise the opportunities its investment brings.”
Nokia Growth partners now has 8 active investments in media and entertainment start-ups. NGP recently backed another Finnish-based gaming company, Gran Cru, investing $11m with Qualcomm back in July.