Rocky Road Games, a Reykjavik-based mobile gaming startup founded by the creators of QuizUp, has secured $3 million in seed funding led by Swedish early-stage venture capital firm Luminar Ventures, with participation from existing investors Iceland’s Crowberry Capital and Finland’s Sisu Ventures, as well as notable angel investors such as David Helgason, founder of Unity, and Matthew Wilson, a former Rovio executive. The startup specializes in developing a social mobile gaming platform focused on nurturing real-world social connections among players. Rocky Road Games plans to use the $3 million in seed funding to advance the development of their social mobile gaming platform to enhance the gaming experience.
Based in Reykjavik, Iceland, with tech teams in London and Kyiv, Rocky Road is setting out to revolutionize social mobile gaming. Early test trials of their new social gaming network have confirmed that the company has tapped into a burgeoning demand for genuine social interactions in the mobile gaming space.
The platform is the brainchild of founders Thor Fridriksson, Vala Halldorsdottir, and Sveinn Davidsson, the same minds behind QuizUp — a trivia game that amassed over 100 million users globally. Unlike traditional mobile games, Rocky Road’s forthcoming platform focuses on nurturing real-world social connections among players.
“We are elated to partner with Luminar Ventures and Crowberry Capital, as well as some distinguished angel investors, who collectively share our belief in the transformative power of social mobile gaming. This funding not only reaffirms the potential of our company but also propels us closer to our mission of crafting gaming experiences that unite players across the world. ” said Thor Fridriksson, CEO and co-founder of Rocky Road Games. “With the backing of such influential players in the industry, we are poised to redefine the boundaries of social interactions in mobile gaming.”
While the company continues to operate in stealth mode, the successful trial run and fresh capital injection signal aggressive development and expansion plans for the coming months. “We’re thrilled to make our first Icelandic investment in serial founders with a stellar track-record in the gaming space,” says Jacob Key, managing partner at Luminar Ventures, “and we agree with Thor’s vision that they could be building Iceland’s first global tech unicorn.”
Jenny Ruth Hrafnsdottir, founding partner of Crowberry Capital said, “I just love the originality of the concept and how the team backs it with their long standing experience in building for millions of users. This product is a testament of experience meeting originality. Outstanding product performance data made it an easy decision to continue backing this team. “
Rocky Road’s approach to integrating social dynamics into mobile gaming is likely to resonate beyond the gaming community, as the market anticipates Rocky Road’s next release.
This Seed round comes on top of Rocky Road’s $2.2M pre-seed round that was led by Crowberry Capital and Sisu Ventures last year. This brings their total fundraising to $5.2M, aimed at developing their innovative social gaming network.
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