London-based VC firm Proxy Ventures has joined a €1.8m seed round in the Finnish mobile gaming startup Ministry, before the company has even launched its first game.
The round has been joined by a number of high-profile investors, including Index Ventures, Sunstone Capital and Initial Ventures, swayed by the small, “elite” dev team who are based in Finland’s Helsinki gaming hub.
Teppo Soininen, CEO and cofounder of Ministry, is a key shareholder in Umbra Software, which provides the rendering tech used in games including Call of Duty. Games artist Sami March has worked across a number of specialist mobile gaming companies, while Teemu Harju is a software engineer that’s previously worked with Nokia.
“Our intention is to become a home for where an elite team of developers has the mind space to build excellent and compelling gaming experiences mobile players will fall in love with,” said Petri Kero, CTO of Ministry, previously the founder of drawElements, which was acquired by Google.
Proxy Ventures’ founding partner Aapo Bovellan created the Supercell gaming brand, the unicorn gaming startup founded in Helsinki in 2010 that is now majority-owned by Japanese multinational Softbank after a billion-dollar deal.
“Behind the world’s best brands are incredible teams, top-tier backers and a simple philosophy,” Bovellan said. “Never has this been more true than with Ministry.”
hottest mobile game development hub in the world
MINISTRY RAISES €1.8M SEED FUNDING FROM TOP VENTURE CAPITAL COMPANIES
Elite developers found company to create blockbuster gameplay and advanced technology
· 12 June, 2015, Helsinki, London · Ministry, the new mobile game developer based in Helsinki, the hottest mobile game development hub in the world, is today announcing its outstanding line-up of seed investors and world-class developer team.
Ministry’s seed investors are providing the company with €1.8M in funding.
The high profile line-up of investors include: Index Ventures, the world’s leading venture capital company known for backing Facebook, King, Just Eat, Skype and Supercell amongst others; Initial Capital, a leading global investor in mobile games, early backers of Supercell and Super Evil Mega Corporation; Sunstone Capital, Europe’s most active games investor; Proxy Ventures, the world’s first venture capital company branding all its portfolio companies, founded by the creators of Supercell and Peak brands; angel investor Henric Suuronen, co-founder of Nonstop Games, the Singapore-based mobile games company recently acquired by King.
Teppo Soininen, CEO and Co-Founder of Ministry, explains: “We are building a company where the best game developers of the industry can simply focus on creating great games and cutting-edge technology, without distractions. In a noisy industry, we are delighted that our honest, back-to-basics approach is backed by some of the world’s top investors and incredible game developer talent”.
“Our intention is to become a home for where an elite team of developers has the mind space to build excellent and compelling gaming experiences mobile players will fall in love with”, says Petri Kero, CTO of Ministry, previously the founder of drawElements, a company acquired by Google.
Ben Holmes, General Partner of Index Ventures, says: “We think the Ministry team is one of the best emerging startups in Finland’s mobile gaming ecosystem and we look forward to supporting them”.
Ken Lamb, co-founder of Initial Capital, comments: “We are delighted to be investors in the stellar founding team at Ministry and to be co-leads with Index Ventures and Sunstone Capital. We are looking forward to exciting new games from this team in the near future.”
Sunstone Capital partner Nikolaj Nyholm adds: “The Ministry team has shipped games played by tens of millions of people. We backed them from day one because of their clear passion to create something extraordinary”.
Aapo Bovellan, Founding Partner at Proxy Ventures, says: “Behind the world’s best brands are incredible teams, top-tier backers and a simple philosophy. Never has this been more true than with Ministry”.
“The Ministry team has the right background, mindset and passion to be a real game changer in the mobile games space”, predicts Henric Suuronen, angel investor and co-founder of Nonstop Games.
Ministry currently plans to announce its first game during 2015.
· ENDS ·
NOTES TO EDITORS
About Index Ventures
Index Ventures is a multi-stage venture capital firm founded to support the best and most ambitious entrepreneurs, wherever they are. With a global network and headquarters in London and San Francisco, we’ve teamed up with founders in 38 countries, who are building the world’s next great companies. They include Dropbox, Etsy, Sonos, SoundCloud, Flipboard, King, BlaBlaCar, Squarespace, Lookout, Hortonworks, Pure Storage, Supercell, Funding Circle and many others.
About Initial Capital
Initial Capital is a private venture capital fund and accelerator that invests in seed and early-stage technology companies. Founded by a group of serial entrepreneurs and experienced investors with significant operating and investment track records, Initial Capital works closely with the management teams of its portfolio companies to build category-leading businesses. Other mobile gaming portfolio companies include Supercell, Space Ape, Super Evil Mega Corp, Supersolid, Juicebox Games, Hutch Games, Next Games and Peak.
About Sunstone Capital
Sunstone Capital is a leading Nordic venture capital company based in Copenhagen and founded in 2007. Sunstone has a track record of being the first investor in the newest crop of great Nordic game companies, including Seriously, Traplight, and Ministry.
About Proxy Ventures
Proxy Ventures is the world’s first venture capital firm building brands for all its portfolio companies, based in London and founded in 2013. Proxy Ventures is founded by a veteran team with experience in building multibillion brands. Proxy’s partners have previously been responsible for building brand identities for companies such as Supercell, Nokia, and Toyota, and have received awards from D&AD, Design Museum, Clio and Art Directors Club.
About Henric Suuronen
Henric Suuronen is a Senior Creative Director at King and an angel investor in companies such as Grand Cru, PlayRaven, Traplight Games and Omniata. Henric Suuronen is the founder of Nonstop Games, recently sold to King for $100M.