Topics
Latest
AI
Amazon
Image Credits:Grand Games(opens in a new window)under a license.
Apps
Biotech & Health
mood
Image Credits:Grand Games(opens in a new window)under a license.
Cloud Computing
Commerce
Crypto
Enterprise
EVs
Fintech
Fundraising
Gadgets
Gaming
Government & Policy
Hardware
layoff
Media & Entertainment
Meta
Microsoft
Privacy
Robotics
Security
Social
Space
Startups
TikTok
Transportation
speculation
More from TechCrunch
Events
Startup Battlefield
StrictlyVC
Podcasts
video recording
Partner Content
TechCrunch Brand Studio
Crunchboard
reach Us
Gaming startups , specifically those building cursory mobile games , are very hot in Turkey right now , and today , another one is announcing a goodish turn just nine months into its existence .
Grand Games , the publisher behind Magic Sort and Car Match , has picked up $ 30 million in financing — money that it will apply to repeat the radiation diagram it set up to create its first two title : hire more endowment who it will set up in small clustering to take ownership of develop their own game
Bekir Batuhan Çelebi ( A.K.A. Batu ) , the CEO and atomic number 27 - father of Grand Games , said while his fellowship apply AI tech to speed up development , its concept of motivating its teams and giving them freedom to execute on ideas — model on Supercell , the casual gambling titan from Finland — makes the tech work as well as it does .
“ It ’s all about the squad culture we are build , ” Batu said in an audience .
London - base Balderton is leading this Series A , which also had involution from previous backers Bek Ventures ( formerly Earlybird Digital East ) and Laton Ventures ( which led a $ 3 million seed round last yr ) , as well as angel investor Mert Gür .
One of Grand Games ’ title , Magic Sort , has die into Apple ’s top - sell casual gaming charts , and its two title have together pulled in more than $ 4 million in egregious app revenues in the six months since they were publish , the company said .
Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI
Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI
The fact that Grand Games is raising any money at all makes it somewhat of an outlier in its category .
Because so many casual gaming startups generate revenue early on , and they are often built on small monetary value bases compare to larger games , many such company ( or sole - trader developers ) tend to appease off the radio detection and ranging when it total to funding .
rather , they choose to bootstrap . In the current chart for most democratic casual and puzzle game on Apple ’s App Store , only a fistful are venture - backed . That inclination include Dream Games and Supercell .
Dream Games , whichraised $ 255 millionin 2022 , is a cardinal name here . It also hails from Turkey and is one of a cluster of companies that have grown out of the success of Peak Games , which Zynga acquired in 2020 for $ 1.8 billion . Peak and Dream have set the taproom for other founders in terms of business ontogenesis , and others in the ecosystem include Tripledot , Spyke ( evoke $ 50 million last year , andlaunched with $ 55 million ) , Agave , and Good Job .
Good Job is where the three founders of Grand Games got their start . Batu , Mustafa Fırtına , and Mehmet Çalım were working together there when they come up with the idea of building Grand , Batu say .
As Batu describe it , typically in the Turkish gaming humanity , game plan decisions are made by founders . They might be smart and ambitious , but that approaching left a lot on the mesa . “ Really capable , gamey - caliber masses ” — their employees — had very petty licence in what they were working on , he said .
Grand ’s bet was that if they could build a structure in which voguish citizenry could take on most of the conclusion - making in clusters around individual title , it would result in more productivity , better games and , at last , happier employees .
The cultivation Grand is trying to implement , Batu say , has become its “ biggest separator ” among game company in Istanbul .
“ It is not unheard of , by the way . Supercell has been doing it for more than 10 years , but I do n’t think it is get wind in the Turkish gaming manufacture , ” he add .
Grand also leans heavily on AI instrument for some of the time - consume workplace involved in nontextual matter mind and writing codification to give its team more time to be originative .
“ I only intervene in 5 % to 10 % of the decisions they are take a crap , ” Batu said , referring to the two clusters at Grand . Those treatment might be to step in if there are fundamental dissension that can not be resolve , or might be to call time on a project that just has n’t work .
So far , commit that the company is less than a year old , it has n’t had many challenge to its bodily structure . It ’s only worked on two game , and both are doing very well . ( Cue investors pick apart down its door . )
The big dubiousness is whether Grand Games can substantiate its track platter as it brings on more staff and sets up more of these production clustering . Investors are willing to look that there is a good prospect it will .
“ Istanbul is producing some of the populace ’s finest gaming studio and within that ecosystem the father of Grand Games remain firm out with their visual modality to produce earth - course genre - defining casual game that actor love to play , ” say Suranga Chandratillake , worldwide married person at Balderton Capital , in a assertion . “ The speed with which they have build a vivid team culture and accomplish success with their first two game prove their talent and commitment . We are frantic to be work with a squad with sky - high ambition and passion for play . ”
