Wildlife Studios, a Sao Paolo-based games maker, garnered a valuation of $3 billion.

That’s fast going. In December, Wildlife raised $60 million at a valuation of $1.3 billion. With the current $120 million round, the company doubled its fundraise and nearly tripled its valuation, all in a matter of fewer than eight months. (VB)

The latest funding round, conducted totally remotely, was led by Vulcan Capital.

Wildlife Studios: Solid organic growth

Better games, more active players have helped boost Wildlife’s valuation. Its recently-launched Zooba and Tennis Clash games have between 8 – 9 million monthly active players each and the company as a whole boasts of 100 million monthly active players.

According to VentureBeat, Wildlife Studios has grown organically and profitably at a rate of 70% per year and has raised $250 million on a cumulative basis.

Pandemic a boost

The tidal surge in game-playing during the COVID-19 pandemic has lifted all game company boats, Wildlife being no exception.

Investors liked the growth and the virus, therefore, acted as a catalytic agent for the latest fundraising.

“There’s a big acceleration toward digital, and a lot of investors want to get exposure to that,” CEO and co-founder Victor Lazarte said to VentureBeat. “We had a lot of inbound interest and we decided to raise more money. We liked that Vulcan was long-term oriented.”

Use of Funds

According to Lazarte, Wildlife will splurge over $200 million to make itself the place of choice for the best game designers in the world.

There are no plans to acquire other games studios.

Games news – of firings and deletions

In more news from the world of games, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL) both deleted the blockbuster Fortnite game from their app stores. At issue was Epic Games’ move to add a direct payment method for the game, violating Apple’s terms of service. Epic also offered a permanent discount of up to 20% on V-bucks (Fortnite’s in-game currency) and other cash purchases in the game.

Clearly, a historic war is brewing. Shortly after Apple and Google threw out Fortnite from their stores, Epic served them both with anti-trust suits.

Meanwhile, according to a Bloomberg report, Ubisoft has fired Ashraf Ismail, the former director of the Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla. Ubisoft reportedly investigated allegations from a fan that Ismail misrepresented his marital status to advance a relationship with her.

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