Mojiworks, the Guildford-based start-up which builds mobile games for messaging apps including Facebook Messenger, has raised £2.1m in Series A funding.
The round was led by European early-stage venture capital investor Balderton Capital, with participation from Lifeline Ventures and Sunstone Capital.
The latest injection will allow the Mojiworks team to to launch multiple new game projects and expand its Guildford headquarters from 10 to 25 staff in the next 12 months.
Formed in November 2016 by veteran start-up founders Matthew Wiggins (CEO) and Alan Harding (CTO), Mojiworks develops and self-publishes multiplayer HTML5 games that users can play directly from messaging apps.
The company’s current portfolio includes MojiQuest and Moji Bowling for iMessage and a new multiplayer adventure game called QuestFriends, to be launched on Facebook Instant Games before the end of the year.
Matthew Wiggins said: “Since starting Mojiworks just twelve months ago, we’ve built a great core team and several proof-of-concept projects that excelled our goals many times over. It has confirmed our belief that messaging will be the next huge games opportunity.
“I’m tremendously pleased that, with Balderton’s involvement and continued support from Lifeline and Sunstone, we have a tight team of investors and advisors with a history of building companies that become market leaders through product innovation and cultural excellence.
“This investment will help drive our growth from pioneers in an emerging space to a leading force on the next platform where billions of people will play together.”