Nonstop Games raises USD 2.9M from Creandum, Lifeline Ventures; unveils new game

Nonstop Games, a Singapore and Finland-based developer of mobile games, has announced today that it has raised USD 2.9M in early stage funding from Creandum, the Nordic investor in Spotify, and Lifeline Ventures, a Finland-based early stage investor that has funded successful Finnish games company Supercell.

The startup (formerly GamesMadeMe) also unveiled its first mobile game, Heroes of Honor, and revealed that it will be setting up an office in Silicon Valley. It currently has 11 employees in Singapore.

Founded in 2011, Nonstop Games was previously focused equally on mobile and desktop games with seed investment from Lifeline Ventures. It had released a couple of casual games. However, it has since shifted to develop only mobile titles that are free-to-play.

Juha Paananen, the co-founder CEO, revealed that Heroes of Honor has been in the works for six months.

Slated for launch early this year, the fantasy-themed game will feature massive synchronous multiplayer battles involving thousands of player armies — something that the company claims has never been seen before on mobile games. It will also feature alliances and coordinated attacks with other players.

For a games company that doesn’t have a breakout hit yet, the valuation seems quite high, even if a large chunk of equity was involved. Juha boils it down to the experience of the team.

Juha himself ran business development for Nokia in the Asia-Pacific region and was based in Singapore. He’s also the brother of Ilkka Paananen, CEO of Supercell, a company most well-known for its massive hit Clash of Clans.

Co-founder and president Henric Suuronen was head of studio at Wooga, one of Europe’s biggest social gaming companies, and was director at Digital Chocolate, having managed over 50 titles on mobile and desktop platforms.

While experience matters, it’s about who you know as well.