Veterans of First Turkish Gaming Unicorn Raise Funds for Startup

(Bloomberg) -- Istanbul-based mobile gaming startup Dream Games, founded by veterans of Turkey's first gaming unicorn Peak, has raised $50 million to develop casual puzzle games and help build a following for its first title.

The Series A round brings Dream's total capital raised to $57.5 million, and was led by Index Ventures with participation from existing investors Balderton Capital and Makers Fund, according to a statement.

Turkey's gaming startups have been a bright spot in a local economy hit by outflows, attracting more than $2 billion in funding in the past five years from the likes of Tencent Holdings and Netmarble Corp. Zynga Inc. agreed to buy Peak for $1.8 billion this past June.

Dream Games Chief Executive Officer Soner Aydemir, who co-founded the new firm with several colleagues from Peak, said he plans to scale up the firm's first offering, Royal Match -- which is being released globally Monday -- in places like the U.S., Western Europe, Canada, Australia and Japan.

Aydemir said the eventual goal for Dream Games is to create additional titles, and the company will more than double its staff from 30 employees to around 75 by the end of the year. He said that despite a gaming-industry boom aided by consumers spending more time at home during the pandemic, his company will be able to succeed even as vaccine drives provide optimism that restrictions will be eased this year.

“We don't create games for a pandemic situation, we are creating games for daily routines,” he said.

Read more: Gaming Startups Defy Turkey's Capital Flight on Zynga Deals

Index Ventures partner Stephane Kurgan, a former top executive at Candy Crush-maker King Digital Entertainment, touted early engagement and retention statistics for Royal Match.

“Casual gaming has been growing very strongly,” Kurgan said. “We think we have a shot here at building one of the great global champions.”

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