AAA Scopely swells series D to $400m

Scopely swells series D to $400m

Media conglomerate Advance and over-the-top media company The Chernin Group have invested $200m in US-based mobile entertainment provider Scopely to double its series D round to $400m.

Venture capital firm NewView Capital led the round’s first tranche in October 2019, investing alongside Baillie Gifford, Greycroft Partners, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Revolution Growth and Sands Capital Ventures.

The latest funding was supplied at a $1.9bn post-money valuation. The company revealed yesterday that it had raised the cash earlier this year before receiving regulatory approval from the Federal Trade Commission for the deal this week.

Scopely publishes immersive mobile games and has a stable of titles based on licenses from the likes of Star Trek, Looney Tunes, The Walking Dead, Wheel of Fortune and the WWE.

The round’s extension comes after Scopely bought mobile game studio FoxNext Games in January this year, for a reported price of about $250m. FoxNext was acquired by Walt Disney through its $71bn purchase of 21st Century Fox in March 2019.

The latest investment takes Scopely’s overall funding to $559m since it was founded in 2011. It had secured $60m from Sands Capital Ventures, Greenspring Associates, Revolution Growth, Cross Creek Advisors and Pritzker Group Venture Capital in a 2017 series C round.

The company received $55m in a 2016 round led by Greycroft that included video game publisher Take-Two Interactive, Evolution Media Partners, which was co-founded by talent agency CAA, Sands Capital, Elephant Partners and Highland Capital.

Chernin Group, Evolution Media Partners, Sands Capital, Elephant Partners, Highland Capital, Knoll Ventures and Double M Capital had provided $35m in series A funding for Scopely in 2014.

Scopely had already raised $8.5m in seed capital from Chernin Group, Anthem Venture Partners, Greycroft, New Enterprise Associates and assorted angel investors two years earlier. Its backers also include Red Swan Ventures and Lerer Hippeau.

By Robert Lavine

Robert Lavine is special features editor for Global Venturing.

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