Mobile game startup Seriously lands $18M

As the mobile industry continues to go from strength to strength, more investors are entering the space in the hopes of unearthing the next Angry Birds or Candy Crush Saga. 

Seriously, a startup with offices in Finland and California, will be hoping it can provide just that, after securing over $18 million in funding from investor Northzone, a backer of companies including Spotify, Trustpilot, and Avito. 

With the developer preparing to launch a trilogy of Best Fiends games--after the first in the planned series amassed over 15 million downloads in the first 10 months--the new funds will be used to build out its production teams and invest in further industry-first marketing programs. 

Seriously will then look to follow in the footsteps of Rovio and turn Best Fiends into a global entertainment franchise. Seriously's total funding now stands at $28 million.

“Our mobile creators can go straight to their audience. We don’t need to go through distribution and we haven’t licensed out our rights, so we can go directly,” said Seriously co-founder and Chief Executive, Andrew Stalbow.

“We’re directly connected to our audience because they are connected to the payment system in our game. As long as people are having a fun experience they are willing to pay for it.”

Investors explained they were attracted to Seriously's "mobile-first" approach, which highlighted the developer's potential as a "next-generation market leader". 

The fact that Seriously's experienced team previously helped develop franchises including Angry Birds, Clumsy Ninja, The Simpsons, and Max Payne, clocking in over 2 billion downloads in the process, likely helped seal the deal.