After 7 years of bootstrapping, Indonesian gaming studio scores $1m funding

Arief Widhiyasa (right)

Agate Studios from Bandung today announced it received a US$1 million pre-series A investment fromMaloekoe Ventures an Indonesian venture capital firm.

Agate has been a constant presence in Indonesia’s gaming scene. Founded in 2009, the team bootstrapped its way to become one of the biggest local game development companies. Agate employs around 70 people.

The studio has built more than 200 games so far. It creates serious games in collaboration with big companies, as well as entertainment games, on a range of platforms. One of its hits is Football Saga, a free to play browser-based soccer game. Super Smash, a game which explores Indonesian badminton done in collaboration with tobacco firm Djarum is an example of a serious game Agate has developed.

“Though our two business divisions – Serious Games and Entertainment Games – have grown and maintained profitability, we feel that we’re still not growing fast enough and require strategic capital,” says Arief Widhiyasa, CEO of Agate Studio.

Maloekoe Ventures, who led this investment, is a fairly new name in the archipelago. Agate seems to be its first publicly announced investment, though its company portfolio reveals it’s also put money into office supply startup Bizzy. The fund is stage-agnostic and focuses mostly on Indonesia, says its website.

With the investment, Agate hopes to grow both divisions more aggressively and spin out more subdivisions for further specialization in different gaming environments.

The announcement was made at the same time Agate celebrated its 7th birthday and unveiled new company headquarters in Bandung. The firm also operates offices in Jakarta and Yogyakarta.