Gaming-focused venture capital firm Play Ventures’ debut fund has generated a DPI of 1.5x in less than four years since its launch, it announced on Monday.
DPI, or distributed to paid-in capital, is the ratio of distributions paid to investors in a PE fund to the money they have invested. It is a common measure of fund performance.
According to Play Ventures, the firm’s Fund I has seen at least three exits including Reworks (acquired by Playtika for $600 million), Dataseat (acquired by Verve Group), and Savage Game Studios (acquired by PlayStation Studios).
The Singapore-based investor added that it has around 20 companies remaining in its Fund I portfolio including Gamefam, Mod.io, and MPL, among others.
Play Ventures had closed the debut fund at $40 million in August 2019. Some of the limited partners (LPs) of the fund included gaming industry heavyweights such as Rovio, the maker of Angry Birds; Modern Times Group, an international eSports and gaming entertainment company; and Anton Gauffin, CEO of social gaming giant Huuuge Games.
Who is Play Ventures?
Play Ventures was co-founded by Henric Suuronen and Harry Manninen in 2018, both active entrepreneurs and investors in the gaming industry.
Manninen previously co-founded Shark Punch as well as Rocket Pack, which Disney acquired in 2011. He also started a Nordic XR startup pre-seed accelerator in Helsinki that invested in 10 portfolio companies including Mighty Bear Games and Starberry Games.
Suuronen was the co-founder of Nonstop Games, which was acquired by King in 2014. He has also personally invested in various startups such as Huuuge Games, Futureplay Games and Matchmade.
In addition to Play Ventures Fund I, the gaming-focused VC firm also oversees Play Ventures Fund II ($135 million), Opportunity Fund, and Play Future Fund. In June 2023, Play Ventures Fund III was also reported to have raised at least $78 million, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
According to Play Ventures, the firm invests across the entire value chain of the $300 billion global gaming industry. This includes gaming studios building for mobile, PC, and console, as well as tooling and infrastructure companies which enable innovations in the space. It invests across all geographies, with portfolio firms spanning the US, Europe, Asia, Israel, and Turkey.
It also invests in areas with adjacencies to gaming, such as blockchain and crypto. The firm’s Play Future Fund is led by former Golden Gate Ventures investor Kenrick Drijkoningen, who previously led blockchain investments in LuneX Ventures.
In 2021, Play Ventures replaced Golden Gate Ventures as LuneX’s fund advisor via a partial sale transaction that led to the formation of Play Future Fund. Play Future Fund invests in startups exploring the intersection of Web3 and gaming, and was last reported to have closed $75 million in December 2021.