IVP Co-Leads $130 Million Financing in Supercell : Institutional Venture Partners

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IVP Co-Leads $130 Million Financing in Supercell : Institutional Venture Partners Sandy Miller and Eric Liaw Will Serve as Board Observers Menlo Park, CA - April 17, 2013 - Institutional Venture Partners (IVP) announced today that it has co-led $130 million financing in Supercell, a leading global mobile games company. IVP and Index Ventures co-led the round with equal investments and were joined by Atomico. The round valued the company at $770 million. IVP is the company's only US investor and Sandy Miller, General Partner at IVP, and Eric Liaw, Principal at IVP, will serve as Board Observers. Supercell is a rapidly growing mobile game company focused on delivering highly entertaining titles with a tablet-first approach. The company began developing games for tablets in 2011 and has since released two titles via Apple's App Store-a tower defense game called Clash of Clans and a social- farming game called Hay Day. Since their release in the summer of 2012, both of Supercell's titles have been fixtures among the top 5 grossing apps on the App Store, leading to the company's strong financial performance, which includes generating $100 million in revenue in 2012. Supercell's momentum has accelerated in 2013, with first quarter revenue of $179 million and net income of $104 million exceeding the total for 2012. Supercell's 8.5 million daily players each play on average ten times and spend collectively $2.4 million per day. In addition to its staggering performance, Supercell is pursuing a unique approach to company culture and game development. New game concepts are created by small teams ("cells") of 5 - 7 employees working independently, allowing Supercell to simultaneously develop, test, and also halt multiple new projects. IVP's Sandy Miller commented, "IVP has been investing in the gaming sector for a long time, with ngmoco and Zynga as our recent great successful investments in this market. We were very impressed with Supercell's passionate management team and explosive metrics. We are very excited to partner with the company in this hypergrowth stage and our investment will strengthen the company's ability to continue on a successful independent path." IVP's Eric Liaw added, "With an emphasis on core values of creativity, flexibility, transparency, and teamwork, Supercell is focused on not only building highly entertaining games but also a culture

Transcript of IVP Co-Leads $130 Million Financing in Supercell : Institutional Venture Partners

Page 1: IVP Co-Leads $130 Million Financing in Supercell : Institutional Venture Partners

IVP Co-Leads $130 Million Financing in Supercell :Institutional Venture Partners

Sandy Miller and Eric Liaw Will Serve as Board Observers

Menlo Park, CA - April 17, 2013 - Institutional Venture Partners (IVP) announced today that it hasco-led $130 million financing in Supercell, a leading global mobile games company. IVP and IndexVentures co-led the round with equal investments and were joined by Atomico. The round valued thecompany at $770 million. IVP is the company's only US investor and Sandy Miller, General Partnerat IVP, and Eric Liaw, Principal at IVP, will serve as Board Observers.

Supercell is a rapidly growing mobile game company focused on delivering highly entertaining titleswith a tablet-first approach. The company began developing games for tablets in 2011 and has sincereleased two titles via Apple's App Store-a tower defense game called Clash of Clans and a social-farming game called Hay Day. Since their release in the summer of 2012, both of Supercell's titleshave been fixtures among the top 5 grossing apps on the App Store, leading to the company's strongfinancial performance, which includes generating $100 million in revenue in 2012. Supercell'smomentum has accelerated in 2013, with first quarter revenue of $179 million and net income of$104 million exceeding the total for 2012. Supercell's 8.5 million daily players each play on averageten times and spend collectively $2.4 million per day.

In addition to its staggering performance, Supercell is pursuing a unique approach to companyculture and game development. New game concepts are created by small teams ("cells") of 5 - 7employees working independently, allowing Supercell to simultaneously develop, test, and also haltmultiple new projects.

IVP's Sandy Miller commented, "IVP has been investing in the gaming sector for a long time, withngmoco and Zynga as our recent great successful investments in this market. We were veryimpressed with Supercell's passionate management team and explosive metrics. We are very excitedto partner with the company in this hypergrowth stage and our investment will strengthen thecompany's ability to continue on a successful independent path."

IVP's Eric Liaw added, "With an emphasis on core values of creativity, flexibility, transparency, andteamwork, Supercell is focused on not only building highly entertaining games but also a culture

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that will enable the company to thrive and prosper for years to come. The company's approach hasresulted in the release of titles that have been well-received by gamers in all over the world and weare thrilled to join the team in the next phase of their growth."

Based in Helsinki, Finland, with North American operations in San Francisco, Supercell was foundedby games industry veterans who have collectively developed more than 165 games across 12platforms.

About Institutional Venture Partners (IVP)

With $4 billion of committed capital, Institutional Venture Partners (IVP) is one of the premier later-stage venture capital and growth equity firms in the United States. Founded in 1980, IVP hasinvested in over 300 companies, 93 of which have gone public. IVP is one of the top performing firmsin the industry and has a 32-year IRR of 43.2%. IVP specializes in venture growth investments,industry rollups, founder liquidity transactions and select public market investments. Since itsinception, IVP investments include such notable companies as ArcSight (HPQ), Buddy Media (CRM),ComScore (SCOR), Concur Technologies (CNQR), Dropbox, Fleetmatics (FLTX), HomeAway (AWAY),Juniper Networks (JNPR), Kayak (KYAK), LegalZoom, LifeLock (LOCK), Marketo, MySQL (ORCL),Netflix (NFLX), Polycom (PLCM), Seagate (STX), Shazam, Synchronoss (SNCR), Tivo (TIVO), Twitterand Zynga (ZNGA). For more information, visit http://ivp.com or follow IVP on Twitter: @ivp

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