Indie studio Juicy Button Games has raised $3 million in a seed round, coming out of stealth following the investment led by The Games Fund.
The new studio was co-founded by Total Battle, Pixel Gun 3D and Mighty Party creators Alexander Kravchuk, Anton Sinelnikov and Aleksandr Zaytsev respectively.
Based in Cyprus, they quietly formed Juicy Button Games earlier this year and have been developing a mobile-first 4X strategy title.
Grand ambitions
Juicy Button looks to take on market leaders in China and carve its mark into the 4X strategy genre, having assembled a “superteam” to bring this vision one step closer to reality. Across the three co-founders’ previous works, they have already created games grossing $700 million in total.
Total Battle has earned $222 million to date and Pixel Gun 3D over $220 million – two of their biggest successes. The latter poised Sinelnikov to be an angel investor in Juicy Button’s seed round.
And in addition to their earlier game releases, Zaytsev and Silennikov have also co-founded studios before: Panoramic Games and Cubic Games respectively.
The Games Fund led the round in Juicy Button, meanwhile, known for investing in early-stage games and tech companies. The VC fund has the largest video games company portfolio in Eastern Europe and Cyprus, where Juicy Button is based.
Strategy and spending
“At The Games Fund we are big believers in the mobile games market. But if you want to survive in the red ocean you better be a shark. Alexander, Anton, and Aleksandr are AAA founders and gurus in their domains with proven track records and top-grossing games under their belts,” said The Games Fund co-founder and general partner Ilya Karpinskiy.
“We are proud and humbled that both young and seasoned founders trust TGF to be their founding investor and can’t wait to see them building global companies!”
Kravchuk commented on the round: “To launch Juicy Button Games, we brought together all four key elements: leading marketing expertise, cutting-edge tech, massive game design knowledge, and smart capital. Each of us has been in the games industry for decades and built successful companies, best in class.
“We united to alloy our collective expertise and resources and pour it into building the best 4X strategy game on the market. We’re set to launch and scale top-quality, deep, and juicy games that players will enjoy for years.
“We have known The Games Fund team for years and are excited to join forces with them as our first investor for this journey from Cyprus to global top charts!”
Earlier this month, startup Games for a Living completed its $3.2 million seed round with Supercell among key investors.