FRVR, a Malta-based HTML5 games publisher for both chat and post-app store platforms such as Facebook Messenger, has secured USD3 million in a seed investment led by Accel.
Makers Fund and angel investors, including games industry luminaries Paul Heydon and David Helgason, also participated in the round.
The way consumers engage with gaming and entertainment media is rapidly changing, with users’ time at an all-time premium.
As a result, there has been a rapid rise in the post-app store games market, comprising a multitude of new game distribution channels. The likes of Facebook Messenger, WeChat and Telegram have opened up their platforms to third-party content, allowing games and other content to be brought directly to consumers inside the apps where they are already spending their time. Hyper-casual games thrive in these channels, being aimed at the widest audience possible. These new titles must be small, quick to load, and run smoothly across a range of platforms. Games publishers need to develop compelling models and games that attract a user’s attention and hold it immediately, particularly in these channels, where every second spent loading a game results in a 9 per cent drop-off in remaining users.
FRVR is an HTML5 games publisher creating immediately engaging games that, once built, run in browsers with minimal load times and hardware requirements, and which can be ported seamlessly to all platforms, channels and app stores. Using a highly analytical and process-driven approach to game development, FRVR distributes games across a range of mobile, messaging and browser-based platforms, including Facebook Messenger, Apple’s App Store, Google Play Store and soon WeChat, with plans to further distribute its games across 10 new platforms in the coming months.
Founded in 2016, FRVR is led by two experienced developers, Founder Chris Benjaminsen and CEO Brian Meidell, who have both been building games and game companies for almost 20 years. The second games publisher to go live on Facebook Messenger, FRVR now has a catalogue of 32 games designed for fast, casual in-app gaming by a broad audience, with another 19 titles currently in development. Their biggest game, Basketball FRVR, has had 5.6 billion games played by users since its release in 2017, and the company has seen similar success with the likes of Hex FRVR and Mahjong FRVR.
Chris Benjaminsen, Founder of FRVR, says: “At FRVR, we want to bring content straight to the consumer, wherever they may be. We want to reach millions of new users in the coming months and it is humbling to think that our catalogue has been played billions of times the world over. It’s our mission to bring gaming to multiple new markets, and today’s investment will help make that happen.”
This investment will be used to expand FRVR’s games into new markets, most notably in Asia, and onto many new platforms. With a team currently at 14 members, the investment will also be used to make key hires across the company’s offices in Malta, London, Seville and Copenhagen.
Brian Meidell, CEO of FRVR, says: “Our platform enables game creators to build titles that, once made, can be seamlessly pushed out across a wide variety of platforms. Today’s investment will help us create new opportunities to reach millions more players worldwide, expand to new markets, and support exciting relationships with a range of world-class partners; we’re thrilled to have investors with such stellar reputations on board.”
Seth Pierrepont, who led the investment for Accel, says: “The reach and inherent social characteristics of chat platforms have created one of the more explosive distribution channels for games that we’ve seen in a long time. Given this is a relatively new and dynamic platform for gaming, we believe speed to market and deep industry experience position the FRVR team well in the category. Chris, Brian and the team have huge ambitions in this market, and we’re excited to be joining them on this journey with this investment.”
