BetaDwarf has raised $6.6 million dollars with participation from LVP and new investors 1Up Ventures and Everblue Management. The company is already profitable with their Forced series, and Minion Masters, and they have two successful Kickstarter campaigns to brag about. This new influx of cash is hoping to boost success of the existing titles, and will be invested into what they define as “a new genre focused on friendships.”
I’m not sure I 100% know what that means, so let’s see if a quote from the press release helps clear it up.
BetaDwarf’s mission is to create the first game in a new genre that utilizes the most socially engaging mechanics from MMOs and MOBAs to build intimate friendships between players via data driven bonding. The company has started its largest production to date – “Project Haven” to pursue this mission, and is actively looking for people to join the journey and to continue the ongoing success of Minion Masters.
OK. What do you guys think? Do we want/need a new genre of game that focuses on friendship? Is this something you would get behind? I was going to ask if you would recommend it for your kids (nieces/nephews/kids friends or etc.) but according to the following quip from the press release this is aimed at the mature gamer.
The team have always been fascinated by great co-op experiences, both couch and online, belonging to the generation that still enjoy these games yet are reaching an age of limited reaction speed, time and available friends. As the company refined their vision it revealed the problem of loneliness but also an opportunity – as we are just about to experience the first generation of adults that are familiar with video games.
PRESS RELEASE
New Investment to Boost Success of Existing Title Minion Masters and Fuel Development of New Game Aimed at Creating Close Friendships.
Copenhagen, Denmark, September 13th 2019 – BetaDwarf raises $6.6m in a Series A financing led by Makers Fund, with participation from seed investor LVP and new investors 1Up Ventures and Everblue Management. The Danish developer is best known for the Forced series, two successful Kickstarters and their latest success Minion Masters, which has one of the largest discord communities in the world. The company is profitable, but has raised additional capital to invest aggressively into what they define as a new genre focused on friendships.
The team have always been fascinated by great co-op experiences, both couch and online, belonging to the generation that still enjoy these games yet are reaching an age of limited reaction speed, time and available friends. As the company refined their vision it revealed the problem of loneliness but also an opportunity – as we are just about to experience the first generation of adults that are familiar with video games.
“Loneliness is on the rise: The UK Britain recently appointed its first Minister for Loneliness, and it has been identified as the next public health epidemic of the 21st century. Countries like USA, China and UK report more than 50% of their adults suffer from loneliness. Feeling lonely is more dangerous than one might think and is associated with a 26% increased likelihood of mortality. A solution can come from forming friends that can relate to your life and share an activity with you. We believe that for the coming generation of adults games will be a perfect solution, and that it already is for the younger generations. Communicating through a headset has shown to be very effective socializing and often leads to in-person meetings as well, however it requires a specific approach to game design.” Says Betadwarf CEO, Steffen Kabbelgaard. “It’s beautiful when positive society impact and business has a chance to meet, and we believe this is true in this case. If we can create and maintain friendships through an activity and in some cases reduce or remove loneliness from our players, then we are more than confident that we will set many new industry KPI benchmarks and that our team will be empowered and motivated by the positive impact on people’s lives.”
BetaDwarf founders, from left Kenneth Harder and Steffen Kabbelgaard.
“Having followed the Betadwarf teams journey over the last two years, we’ve been continually impressed by their rapid ability to set high aspirations and hit them in short succession. Their ability to push Minion Masters to new heights alongside their ambition to build around such a key theme in our industry is another example of that. We’re excited to be supporting them as they grow the company to the next level.” Says Michael Cheung, Partner at Makers Fund.
London Venture Partners led the seed round into BetaDwarf in February 2018 to help grow Minion Masters, providing both capital and know how. Minion Masters has continued its growth story, recently crossing 2.5 million downloads and 100k members on its Discord server. Yet BetaDwarf seeks to move faster leveraging its co-op fundament towards the creation of a new “Friendshipping genre” that LVP also invests further in.
“BetaDwarf demonstrates the unique possibilities that young, dynamic and highly driven teams have in the current gaming market, under the new fully community driven paradigm, where the game is just one element of their offering. This team continues to outexecute our high expectations and we are in love with their mission. We can’t wait to see what the next 12 months bring” Says Are Mack Growen, Board member from LVP.
Art Concept from Project Haven, buddy responsibility.
BetaDwarf’s mission is to create the first game in a new genre that utilizes the most socially engaging mechanics from MMOs and MOBAs to build intimate friendships between players via data driven bonding. The company has started its largest production to date – “Project Haven” to pursue this mission, and is actively looking for people to join the journey and to continue the ongoing success of Minion Masters.
About BetaDwarf: BetaDwarf is a danish game developer company known for Forced, Forced Showdown and Minion Masters. The team went viral with their classroom squatting bootstrap story., growing to more than 3million owners of their games with releases on both PC and console. To learn more about BetaDwarf, visit https://www.betadwarf.com/.
About Makers Fund: A venture capital fund created to support founders by combining deep industry experience with multi-stage investment across Seed to Series B, Makers is dedicated to furthering growth and innovation in the global interactive entertainment industry. www.makersfund.com
About LVP: LVP are an early stage fund with a valuable difference: the partners are operating experts in the games ecosystem and team have been seed investors in game companies that have created over $18 billion in value through exits including Supercell, Playfish and NaturalMotion. LVP are investors in many other great companies including Unity, Futureplay, AppOnboard, Bossa Studios, Polystream and 25 others. To learn more about LVP, visit http://www.londonvp.com.
