Institutional Ventures Partners (IVP) officially announced today that the comapny has led Niantic’s $245 million Series C financing round held in late December 2018. Other companies such as Samsung Ventures, aXiomatic Gaming, Battery Ventures, Causeway Media Partners and CRV participated as well along with IVP in the Series C round of investment of this tech company, positioned as a leading developer of mobile augmented reality (AR) experiences.
Niantic will use the capital to maintain its lead in AR experiences by investing in advanced AR capabilities, machine learning, the Niantic Real World Platform, and continuing to broaden its game offerings.
That carried out in Niantic is the latest in a number of investments made by IVP in a range of category-defining consumer businesses, including: Discord, HomeAway, Lime, Snap, Supercell, Twitter, and Zynga, among others. We are excited to partner with Niantic to help bring people together through experiences that marry advanced technology and the real world.
Niantic is the developoer of augmented reality games such as Pokémon GO. But this is not an isolated success but the start off in a journey bringing together creative gameplay, compelling storylines, and existing media franchises into people’s everyday world.
“This year, Niantic will further blur the boundaries of reality and fantasy with its new title Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, inspired by J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World and the Harry Potter franchise. Having received a sneak peek into the gameplay, we’re excited by the game’s potential to captivate millions around the world by bringing the fantastical world previously only accessible by imagination to life.
Riderless broomsticks were spotted flying erratically in the Muggle world. Stay alert for any other cases of unexplained magical activity! #WizardsUnite pic.twitter.com/iebpR5kvo0
— Harry Potter: Wizards Unite (@HPWizardsUnite) December 20, 2018
“The power of Niantic’s games do not lie solely in the IP, but in the company’s ability to weave creative gameplay, compelling storylines, and existing media franchises into our everyday world. Pokémon GO and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite are just the beginning, and we can’t wait for you to see what Niantic has in store for the future,” IVP’s Sandy Miller, Eric Liaw, Parsa Saljoughian, and Jason Kong explain in the official announcement made today by the later-stage venture capital firm based in Menlo Park (Cal. USA) .
And they continue: “While IVP has successfully invested in numerous gaming companies over the years, we ultimately view Niantic as much more than a mobile game development company. At IVP, we view augmented reality as a form factor that has the potential to be even more disruptive than the initial wave of mobile in terms of how consumers engage with technology. Rather than viewing the digital world through our phones, the day will come when the digital world resides next to the real world. While we are several steps of technological development away, Niantic has stepped into the forefront of AR development and has the opportunity to create a technology standard. Niantic recently opened up its Real World Platform to developers and continues to invest in initiatives focused on AR mapping and computer vision. IVP couldn’t be more excited to partner with John Hanke and the entire Niantic team to continue bringing the world together through AR.”
Two years of strategical purchases and partnerships
Leaving aside new developments 2017 and 2018 have been two years of strategical acquisitions and partnerships for Niantic.
In November 2017, it was announced that Niantic acquired Evertoon, an app which allows users to make short, personalized films. The movement pointed at helping build social systems.
In June 2018, Niantic announced the acquisition of computer vision and machine learning company Matrix Mill. The Matrix Mill team has spent years focusing on perfecting augmented reality occlusion by building deep neural networks that can infer 3D information about the surrounding world.
In July 2018, Niantic announced the acquisition of LA-based gaming studio, Seismic Games, a purchase aimed at significantly accelerate Niantic’s ability to deliver all new AR experiences that bridge the physical and digital worlds.
In late November 2019 UNWTO signed a partnership with UNWTO to enhance global tourism through the use of mobile augmented reality game experiences.The idea is combining tourism and Augmented Reality technology for players to engage with real-world locations using Niantic’s mobile games in a wide range of ways.
“Our goal at Niantic is to create interactive games that encourage exercise, social interaction and exploration, giving players the opportunity to play together in the real world and discover the incredible history hidden in their own neighbourhoods,” said Anne Beuttenmüller, Head of Marketing EMEA at Niantic. “We’re looking forward to creating brand new adventures in collaboration with UNWTO to increase awareness around their mission of responsible tourism,” she added.
After $245 million Series C financing round held by Niantic in late December 2018 the total valuation of the company reached $3.9Bn.
Image over the headline.- John Hanke, founder and CEO of Niantic. Image provided for publishing on the press release of IVC.
Related Eastwind Marketing links:
Jio and Niantic, to launch Pokémon GO in India
Pokémon GO, more searched for than Trump through Google in 2016
Super Mario Run reaches record downloads and cash but far below Pokémon GO
Related External links:
Niantic Occlusion – Real World AR Occlusion featuring Pikachu and Eevee
