PlayFirst announced today that it has received $9.2 million in financing, with $5.2 million coming from investors including Mayfield Fund, Trinity Partners, DCM and Rustic Canyon Ventures, and $4.2 million in debt financing from Comerica Bank. The new funding will be used to expand the company’s reach into the mobile and social gaming markets. PlayFirst has seen recent success with the Facebook launch of Chocolatier: Sweet Society, which has over 800,000 active monthly users. The Dash franchise continues to perform well, with the last title being the iPad launch game, Diner Dash: Grilling Green.
“This financing enables us to keep our focus on the opportunities in the mobile and social gaming sectors and provides the flexibility to quickly respond to changes and opportunities as the market continues to shift rapidly. With this capital, we will continue to aggressively optimize the PlayFirst brands that consumers love, like Diner Dash, to social and mobile platforms and look for growth through partnerships and potential acquisitions,” said Mari Baker, president of PlayFirst.
“PlayFirst, with its unique combination of best-selling casual game titles and emotionally engaging content, is well-positioned to thrive in today’s quickly growing market for social and mobile games,” said Gus Tai, general partner, Trinity Ventures. “We see tremendous market opportunity ahead and PlayFirst will continue to be part of that story.”
PlayFirst also announced that Eric Hartness, formerly of PlaySpan, has joined the company as vice president and general manager on social games. Hartness will be responsible for determining the overall strategy and executive of PlayFirst’s social gaming brand. At PlaySpan, Hartness served as Chief Marketing Officer, being an integral part of the recent Monetization-as-a-Service initiative. Prior to that, he spent nine years as VP of marketing for EA’s Redwood Shores studio, lending his services to numerous titles, including Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, The Simpsons Game, The Godfather, and Dead Space.
“PlayFirst continues to build out a winning team for the social game space. The addition of Eric, whom I’m known for a number of years, brings a recognized leader to drive PlayFirst brands in the social game market," said Mike Vorhaus, president, Magid Advisors. “In fact, our recent research shows that Diner Dash is already better known among Facebook game players than many of the top Facebook games today.”
