The Warsaw based VC and PE investor – MCI Management, investing in the growth and expansion stage (Series B-E) of established & successful technology companies based in in CEE/DACH/CIS/Turkey regions, announces its latest investment in Ganymede, one of Poland’s largest game companies and a leading developer of social casino games worldwide. The investment will fuel the growth of the games portfolio, and user acquisition.
MCI consistently invests in companies with a leading position in the digital space and new technologies with high growth potential. The social casino games segment is a good example: from 2011-2014 it has enjoyed the enormous revenue growth compared with other segments in the gaming industry, at an expansion rate of approximately 50% per year – last year reaching a value of 2.6 billion USD. Forecasts for the coming years are equally promising.
Ganymede, established 10 years ago, is one of the largest Polish companies in the game industry and, having recognised the potential of social casino early, has focused their development efforts to produce games for this sector. Ganymede is the owner of the popular stand-alone games portal GameDesire.com, but also provides game solutions to a network of global partners. “The current financial success of the company and promising forecasts are driven by the quality of their games appreciated by players, which is why only in 2014, the average number of new daily registrations on their sites, including Facebook, amounted to almost 50 thousand, while the MAU (monthly active users) has increased almost threefold over the last two years” said Sylwester Janik, partner at MCI Management SA, also leading MCI’s growth fund.
The financing round is “eight-digit figure”, which will be used primarily to expand mobile resources, develop new innovative social casino products and increase Ganymede’s global marketing capacity. Growth plans also include the hiring of top people with experience in technology, marketing and analytics fields.
‘Our strategy of dynamic development, challenges us to attract the best employees in the market – which may include the opening of an office in London or San Francisco. This year, we plan to grow by more than 50 specialists, who will greatly enhance existing teams and help break ground on new products. We believe that having a strong partner like MCI, who shares our vision and development strategy will enable us to quickly realise our plans,” says Maciej Mroz, CEO of Ganymede.
Ganymede is the second online game company, after Prague based Geewa, which has attracted investment from MCI. MCI’s commitment will not be limited to the financial investment. In addition to the capital for the further development of the company, MCI also provides their partners with expertise from other companies within the industry.
“The plan we outlined in collaboration with MCI is very ambitious, but we believe that our experienced teams are up to the challenge.” said Marek Wylon, founder of Ganymede.