Tencent leads $26m round of Sequoia-backed gaming firm

Mod.io, an Australia-based game development firm, has raised US$26 million in its latest round of funding.

More funding details

• Lead investors: Tencent
• New investors: Lego Ventures, OIF Ventures
• Returning investors: Makers Fund, Play Ventures, Sequoia Capital India’s Surge, and GameTech Ventures
• Stage: Series A

More company updates

• Launched in 2019, Mod.io applies a user-generated-content (UGC) approach to game development while making modding easier for users.
• In 2020, Mod.io joined the fourth cohort of Sequoia’s accelerator program, Surge, which then co-led a US$4 million round for the gaming startup.
• “The metaverse will be built with UGC as foundational components. Player-made content, hand in hand with professional content, made by game studios,” said Scott Reismanis, co-founder and CEO of Mod.io.
• Over 80 games have used Mod.io to date, and the firm has distributed 20 million unique UGCs to 3 million players through its platform. For 2021, Mod.io said it has seen downloads grow 300% year-on-year, with 177 million mods having been downloaded so far this year.
• “We believe that UGC drives innovation in gaming. Many of the largest video game genres today started out as UGC or mods built by enthusiasts on top of existing products,” said Bo Wang, corporate vice president of Tencent Games.

For more coverage about the company, head here. You can also click on the link below to view the company’s key details and funding history.