Bitkraft Ventures — a gaming investor based in Denver, Colorado, but with European founders — is raising its third fund, raising $275 million. The fund will make seed and Series A investments in gaming studios and platforms to support game production. The moves come at a time when gaming investment is actually down 72% year-over-year, according to a recent PitchBook report.
Founded by gaming industry veteran Jens Hilgers, Bitkraft has more than 130 companies in its portfolio and more than $1 billion in assets under management.
The VC is an investor in studio Frost Giant, which Hilgers seemed particularly excited about.
“Frost Giant has set out to create a successor in the real-time strategy space. The team was previously involved in the development of StarCraft and is now releasing a game called Stormgate. It’s highly anticipated and has had great early reviews. This is a good example of the type of game company we’re investing in.”
Other investments include Anzu, an in-game advertising platform. Carry1st, a mobile gaming platform focused on Africa. InWorld, a social platform. Karate Combat, a martial arts championship. and Immutable, the creator of the crypto-based game Gods Unchained.
He said the firm’s LP base is a mix of family offices and institutional funds, and confirmed a major global sporting goods player as the LP, but was not at liberty to disclose the name.
“The strategy we followed with the second fund is about 30 to 35 companies, average ticket size of about $4 million, 50% seed capital and 50% follow-on. This strategy has seemed successful so far. We are ranked in the top ten in the latest Cambridge Associates rankings and we are pleased with this performance,” he added.
Perhaps the best way to position Bitkraft is to compare it to Play Ventures in Singapore, which has raised $222.9 million in four funds but also invests in various types of gaming platforms.
