• Xfire

  Led · Equity · May 2012

  Xfire provides social networking tools for gamers, including gamer profiles, in-game voice and instant messaging, and live broadcasting. The company announced $3 million in new funding led by Singapore-based IDM Venture Capital to expand its presence in Asia. It has partnered with China Youth Goyor Technology to bring its services into the Chinese market. Xfire has changed ownership several times — acquired by Viacom in 2006 and by Titan Gaming in 2010 — and became independent again last fall. At the time it became independent it raised $4 million from Intel Capital and others. Xfire says the $3 million raise will probably be part of a larger round. Xfire operates a social communication platform targeted at gamers, providing group text and voice chats and user-generated content tools including screenshots, videos and live game broadcasts. The service supports a lively ecosystem of hundreds of game publisher partners and more than 19 million end users. Following a $4 million funding injection led by Intel Capital alongside unnamed angel investors, Xfire has severed ties with Titan Gaming and will operate independently. The funding coincides with leadership changes: Mark Donovan will serve as President, Juston Brommel as CMO and Autumn Radtke as Director of Business Development. Intel Capital joins early backers including Tomorrow Ventures, Clearstone Venture Partners principals William Quigley and Jim Armstrong, PriceGrabber co-founder Kamran Pourzanjani, and MP3.com founder Michael Robertson. Xfire originally received up to a Series C and later several millions from Viacom; Donovan estimates roughly $44 million has been injected into the company to date.

• Playsino

  Led · Equity · Apr 2012

  Playsino, formerly Titan Gaming, is repositioning its platform to focus on social casino games while leveraging its traction in tournaments and virtual rewards. The company has named Brock Pierce as CEO; Pierce is the managing director of the Clearstone Global Gaming Fund and a serial entrepreneur who founded Internet Gaming Entertainment (IGE) and Zam. Playsino aims to build "the world’s largest social gaming casino platform" and is pursuing both internal game development and publishing third-party content. The startup also plans to acquire independent players and build a platform that allows developers and established players to sell their games. Playsino intends to use new capital to accelerate development and platform build-out, taking cues from Zynga.com’s model. The company operates amid a large and growing social gaming audience (about 510 million people, a 71% increase since 2010) but faces increased competition and regulatory uncertainty in online gambling.

No current team members are available.