Ankara-based mobile gaming startup UDO Games, founded by Mustafa Türker Karahan, Gökhan Güngör, and Andaç Altak, completed its first investment round in partnership with WePlay Ventures and Lima Ventures. UDO Games, which received an investment of 420 thousand dollars over a valuation of 4.2 million dollars, will start working to publish the casual mobile games they have developed with this investment.
UDO Games has reached more than 45 million users with its published games to date.
UDO Games, which became a company within the body of ODTÜ ATOM in 2013, attracted attention with the casual games in the category of action runner and tower defense named Incredible Toys, which they published one year after its establishment. Incredible Toys received the “Game of the Year” and “Best Game Design” awards in the “Crystal Pixel Awards” held in Turkey. In addition, it was nominated in the “Best Mobile Game” category at the “Casual Connect Europe” and “Game Connection Europe” conferences held in Europe in the same year.
With this momentum they achieved, they managed to take themselves to the next level in the “io” game category, which marked the past years. The game studio, which exceeded the 1 million download threshold in a short time with the first “io” game they developed, Blobie.io, has reached more than 45 million users with all the io games they developed, especially Goons.io, Boas.io, and Spear.io. UDO Games, which has PC and console games in its portfolio, has currently tested more than 100 games in the hyper-casual game genre. The team, which continues to work with its two offices in Ankara and a team of 30 people, will start to publish the casual games they have developed by strengthening their marketing and developer teams with this investment.
“It is very valuable for us to get the support of two experienced investment companies on this road to our goals”
UDO Games stated that they have been aiming to be an independent game studio since the first year they were founded, they have produced games with their own unique methods and that they aim to be a game company that shapes the industry by developing these methods, and said the following:
“Both our founders and our teammates are doing this childhood dream job with great passion. We think that this is the most important reason behind our success so far. Today, we are moving to a new stage together. Our dreams and goals are huge. It means a lot for us to know that two partners such as WePlay Ventures, which is a professional in the gaming industry, and Lima Ventures, an experienced investment team, are with us on this path. With this investment, we started a project called Next Gen Devs to bring new faces to the game industry in the country. Within the scope of this project, more than 200 applications were made to the internship program we organized this summer. We included a group of 30 trainees in a 6-week training and hands-on game development program. In addition, we create video content that everyone can benefit from in-game development by making weekly live broadcasts with the participation of important names from the industry. Within the scope of this project, we will also organize game development activities in the future, and we will take serious steps in raising qualified human resources with all this project content.”
Bora Koçyiğit, Managing Partner of WePlay Ventures, said:
“As WePlay, we have had the opportunity to meet with hundreds of game studios since the day we were founded. UDO Games is one of the studios that excites us the most. We will be doing the best we can by being with them on this path they set out on. I am sure that you will hear the name of UDO Games much more in a very short time.”
Ahmet Argun, managing partner of Lima Ventures said the following statements; “As Lima Ventures, we are extremely happy to make our first investment in UDO Games together with WePlay, which is an expert in the game vertical, after long researches and reviews. In addition to being a competent game studio, UDO Games is fully compatible with our investment thesis with its rapid growth and international potential.”
