Picture credit: "HTML5 Logo On Screen", by "David Martyn Hunt", used under CC BY / Modified from original
Big Viking Games, a Canada-based independent mobile and self-published game studio and pioneer in HTML5 mobile games, has secured a total of $21.75 million (£17.4m) in funding from Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), Export Development Canada (EDC) and BDC Capital.
The gaming house is looking to secure more financing aiming to raise at least another $60m – with the belief that investing in HTML5 will help them expand the gap between themselves and the competition.
Since inception, the company has seen high profitability with 55% CAGR on revenues and 180% on EBITDA. The five-year old company has grown organically without any venture capital or outside equity investment to date.
Albert Lai, co-founder and CEO of Big Viking Games, said: “Starting in 2012, we made the decision to make significant investments in HTML5 instant games because we saw the potential of the technology and how it will define the future of mobile gaming and entertainment,” says Albert Lai, co-founder and CEO, Big Viking Games. “Others have moved away from HTML5 due to the technical investment required but we believe that open standards and more powerful devices will pave the way for a massive shift on mobile phones and tablets.”
Lai added: “While our focus on HTML5 has paid off with our Triple-A instant games that can be distributed on many powerful mobile platforms, such as messenger applications, we weren’t sure we could find the right investors that understood our vision in the early days. Now that we have multiple million dollar budget titles in the works to distribute on new and upcoming platforms, investors can see how our business strategy is on track to change the future.”
RBC, in partnership with EDC, provided Big Viking with $18m in financing, while BDC contributed $3.75m in an earlier round that has since been repaid with company profits.
You can read the company's blog post here.
