Supercell’s recent funding spree has continued with a fresh $37m investment in Beatstar maker Space Ape.
GamesBeat has the scoop on the news, with Space Ape CEO John Earner telling the outlet:
“The reasoning is first and foremost the success of [our] Beatstar game, as we spent years working on, learning and mastering a category of music games.”
“We have had success in that category and promise that we can continue to improve in that category,” he continued. “Through the game, we’re working on extensions for the future. It’s really compelling to us and to Supercell.”
Supercell had previously bought a 62.6% stake in Space Ape for $56.6m back in 2017. After this fresh round of investment the Clash maker has a 75% stake in the London studio.
The GamesBeat report also says that Supercell is extending a line of credit worth $50m to Space Ape, which it will use to grow its team and spend on marketing Beatstar, plus its other projects in the works, one of which is Boom Beach: Frontlines.
“The financing will really help us chase that success,” Earner told GamesBeat. “I do think the second thing behind that story is confidence and enthusiasm in what else we’re doing, how much we’ve grown over the last few years beyond the music category, and a couple other things we’re doing as well. So ultimately, it’s a success story message. They’re increasing their stake in our company to help us chase success.”
As we reported a few weeks back, Beatstar has grown to the point where it is now able to debut new tracks ahead of Apple Music and Spotify, and back in March the game hit 22m downloads and 1m DAU.
Supercell, meanwhile, continues to invest in new studios. On top of its own US studio that is targeting Nintendo-style games ‘great on any platform’, it also recently bought a majority stake in Trailmix for $60m, invested in web3 studio Oxalis Games, funded Australian studio Ultimate‘s debut game launch and also new Helsinki outfit Channel 37, which is making an as-yet unannounced PC title.
