Crowdstar builds social and mobile games, with a history of fashion-focused titles like Top Girl and Social Girl. The company has shifted its entire focus from Facebook to mobile platforms (iOS and Android) and is placing renewed emphasis on tablets. Crowdstar plans to bring two mobile products to market later this year, one of which will be fashion-focused while the other will be a different genre. The company disclosed an additional $12M from existing investors and has more than $46.5M in total funding to date. Crowdstar employs about 70 people. The article notes rising mobile marketing costs and higher platform fidelity expectations, with new-game launch costs reaching into the millions—context for the new capital raise. Crowdstar is a games developer known for titles like Top Girl and Social Girl that has pivoted from Facebook to mobile. Its mobile versions have attracted 25 million users, with revenue split roughly 80% iOS and 20% Android; Google Play and Amazon's appstore are even in monthly revenue, though Amazon users are more lucrative. The company targets young women ages 13–30 and is pursuing "profitable growth" under CEO Peter Relan. Crowdstar raised $11.5 million in a recent round to double down on mobile, bringing total funding to $35 million. It is moving off Facebook due to reduced profitability there and has laid off about 25 people from its Facebook studios. Management cited broader market dynamics—Facebook's clampdown on viral channels and 30% revenue share, and Apple's larger payments ecosystem—as factors in the pivot. The article notes increasing competition and pressure on profit margins in mobile gaming and suggests recent sector exits have set benchmark valuations that may constrain upside for later investors. CrowdStar is a social gaming company best known for Facebook games Happy Aquarium, It Girl, Happy Pets and Mighty Pirates and is the fifth-largest Facebook social gaming app developer with 29 million monthly active users. The company recently reported its largest quarter of revenue in Q1 2011. Under new CEO Peter Relan (creator of incubator YouWeb), CrowdStar is shifting from being Facebook-dependent toward becoming an independent social gaming platform. It plans to expand internationally (about 50% of traffic is already international), push into mobile with iOS-first releases incorporating location and push notifications, and pursue talent and small studio acquisitions. CrowdStar currently has about 100 employees and says it will use part of the new funding to roughly double headcount, hiring developers, artists, producers, analysts and content managers. The company previously started with only $100,000 in funding from YouWeb; new investors and partnerships are expected to help with mobile expansion and China/Japan market entry.

Total raised

$47M

Funding rounds

3

Latest round

Equity

Latest activity

Jun 2013