Wow, looks like Rovio’s gonna need a bigger ‘piggy’ bank, hurr hurr hurr.
In a multi-million investment drive for the producer of app classic Angry Birds, the developer scored a whopping 26 million big ones for the cause. Investors of the big chunk o’ money mostly came from the VC firms group, from Accel Partners and Atomico Ventures respectively. And no, I haven’t heard of them either, but the point is they’re paying!
Atomico Ventures founder Niklas Zennström has also joined up with Rovio, and to be honest, who’d blame him after injecting so much cash into a company that makes a game about throwing birds at pigs. But hey, if it sells, it works.
Rovio is going to utilize the money “to increase its reach internationally, and across markets including mobile, social media and other platforms, and via merchandising and media production and partnerships,” said Mikael Hed, CEO and co-founder of Rovio.
“With Angry Birds, we have successfully launched not only a strong new brand, but also a whole new entertainment franchise. Angry Birds will continue to grow, and we aim to create more similar success stories. We will strengthen the position of Rovio and continue building our franchises in gaming, merchandising and broadcast media.”
Angry Birds funds are already in the green zone for about £43.6 million already, thanks to constant app sales globally from a LOT of platforms. Rovio is really pushing the brand too, with board games, plushies, a cartoon series, movie tie-ins (With latest cartoon animal flick Rio, which also stars birds… oh dear, they’d better be very well prepared to meet THESE birds.) and even a movie. Not bad for just one app.