MCI.TechVentures (MCI.TV, Fund) sells the entire holding in Geewa (Company) as part of a strategic investment by Applovin Corporation. Applovin is a mobile games company that fuels the growth of many of the world’s most popular mobile games and game studios.
- Geewa is a Czech developer and producer of player vs. player (PvP) mobile games
- The company’s most popular game is Smashing Four
- First investment of MCI.TV took place in 2007
- In addition to MCI.TV, the lead investor in the company was also the Springtide Ventures Czech Fund (part of VC holding of KKCG), which became involved with Geewa in 2014.
At the time of the MCI.TechVentures investment, the company had successfully adapted to the changing business environment. The initial investment thesis assumed development and international expansion of the online gambling portal (hry.cz set up jointly with Seznam.cz). With time, due to the dynamic development of social media, Geewa has become focused on its own games and their implementation on platforms such as Facebook, MySpace and iGoogle. Since 2014, the company has been fully concentrated on the manufacture of smartphone and tablet games.
Throughout the investment period, the MCI.TechVentures fund remained an active investor in the company. The Fund management supported it in the area of key recruitment, support for the product development, redefinition of new revenue models and redesign of distribution channels. MCI.TV was also involved in the funding processes that resulted in consecutive investment rounds.
“We have managed to find an ideal buyer for this asset. AppLovin is a strong strategic investor that can provide further dynamic growth to the company”, says Maciej Bogaczyk, Investment Director at MCI responsible for the transaction.
This is another process carried out by the MCI.TV that has recently succeeded. In December last year, the Fund announced the sale of the shareholding in Frisco.pl, the largest Polish supermarket online. The value of that transaction, where the Buyer was Eurocash Group, amounted to more than PLN 120 million.
The portfolio of MCI.TechVentures also includes another gaming company – OneMoreGame, a Krakow-based mobile gaming development studio. Additionally, another representative of the sector is RemoteMyApp, owner of streaming platform Vortex.gg, from Internet Ventures Fund.
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About MCI
MCI is one of the largest technology investment funds in the region of Central and Eastern Europe, dedicated to the digital economy. MCI funds manage EUR 550 million. In over 20 years of history, the funds have carried out more than 100 investments and 60 exits. The Fund was involved in, among others, Mall.cz (e-commerce, Czech Republic), WP.pl (digital media, Poland), Invia (e-travel, CEE), Dotpay/eCard (fintech, Poland) and iZettle (fintech, global). More information about MCI can be found at www.mci.eu.
About Geewa
Geewa is a Prague-based games developer focused on developing and publishing casual, competitive player vs. player multiplayer games for mobile devices. The company was founded in 2005 by Miloš Endrle, the creator behind Pool Live Tour. The company’s latest hit is Smashing Four, where you join battles in real time against friends and players around the world.
About AppLovin
AppLovin fuels the growth of many of the world’s most popular mobile games. Since 2012, the company’s technologies have been instrumental in driving the explosive growth of games from its studio partners and its own studios. AppLovin makes those same technologies available to all game developers, resulting in a richer mobile game ecosystem and better games for people everywhere. AppLovin is headquartered in Palo Alto, California with several offices globally.