Roblox, the US-based operator of an online immersive entertainment platform, secured $150m yesterday in a series G round featuring internet group Tencent, at a $4bn valuation according to the Wall Street Journal.
Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz’s Late Stage Venture fund led the round, which included Temasek, Altos Ventures, Meritech Capital and Tiger Global Management. The company is also opening a tender offer for up to $350m of secondary share sales.
Founded as DynaBlocks in 2004, Roblox has built an online platform with 115 million monthly active users who can use it to create virtual worlds and massively multiplayer online games which others can then enter or play.
David Baszucki, Roblox’s co-founder and CEO, said: “We have stayed true to our vision of creating a safe and civil place where people come together to create, learn and have fun, and it is amazing to see what we have built together with our global creator community.
“Looking ahead, we are doubling down on our commitment to building the most advanced tools and technology to take our creators and players into the metaverse of the future.”
Roblox has now disclosed about $550m in funding to date, though that likely includes past secondary offerings. Altos Ventures and First Round Capital provided $2.2m in a 2009 round that increased its overall funding to $3.8m before returning to invest a further $4m two years later.
Meritech Capital Partners and Index Ventures co-led a $92m round for the company in 2017. It added $150m in a September 2018 round co-led by Greylock Partners and Tiger Global and backed by Index Ventures, Altos and Meritech that valued it at $2.5bn, a source told TechCrunch.
