Social gaming company Digital Chocolate secured a loan worth $5m on Wednesday from NXT Capital Venture Finance, the venture loans division of commercial finance firm NXT Capital, in order to fund ‘key growth initiatives’.
Digital Chocolate had previously raised $55.8m in capital over four rounds. Investors include corporate venturing unit Intel Capital, which led a $12m series D round last year, as well as venture firms Sequoia Capital, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Bridgescale Partners, Sutter Hill Ventures, CHI Capital, Chengwei Ventures, DN Capital, Glynn Capital Management, Outlook Ventures, WHI Capital, Greenspring Associates and Montagu Newhall.
Founded in 2003 by Trip Hawkins, formerly the founder of console video game developer Electronic Arts, Digital Chocolate focuses on developing social games for mobile devices and social networks such as Facebook.
Peter Fair, an investment professional at NXT Capital Venture Finance, said: "Digital Chocolate has a tremendous reputation for developing social games that are high-quality and extremely engaging. In a gaming universe where 70% of games are free-to-play but users still demand console-like content, Digital Chocolate’s ability to create immersive game-play across multiple platforms is not only unparalleled, but a real competitive advantage."
Details of Digital Chocolate’s expansion plans were not disclosed but could include further purchases. The firm acquired casual games developer Sandlot Games in August, citing Sandlot’s Seattle and Russia-based development teams as a significant factor in the acquisition.