Lionsgate Facilitates Bringing Investor Group Together
nWay Expands Board of Directors to Accelerate Growth of Entertainment IP-based Multiplayer Gameplay Following Breakout Success of Power Rangers: Legacy Wars
Leading venture capitalist firms March Capital Partners and Ridge Ventures today announced an $11 million investment in game developer nWay. This will support new game development from nWay, as well as continue to fuel the breakout success of the blockbuster mobile game Power Rangers: Legacy Wars, developed by nWay in collaboration with Power Rangers creator Saban Brands and global content leader Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF.A, LGF.B). Lionsgate also helped bring together nWay’s latest funding partners but made no investment itself.
“Making fun mobile games with seamless synchronous multiplayer is extraordinarily difficult, but with Power Rangers: Legacy Wars, nWay has emerged as a true industry leader,” said Lionsgate President of Interactive Ventures, Games & Digital Strategy Peter Levin. “We’ve helped nWay to assemble a veteran team of investors to enable them to continue pushing the boundaries of this field while showcasing world-class entertainment IP.”
nWay also announced that three leading executives have joined its expanded Board of Directors – Lionsgate’s Peter Levin; Ridge Ventures Managing Director Phil Sanderson; and March Capital Partners Co-founder Gregory Milken.
“As Power Rangers: Legacy Wars celebrates more than 27 million downloads across iOS and Android, we continue to gain invaluable knowledge on servicing and monetizing free-to-play synchronous multiplayer games, and are already benefitting from the experience and guidance of the partners joining us today,” said Taehoon Kim, CEO, nWay.
“Bringing together a strong engineering team, commitment to high-quality graphics and design, and unique expertise to this type of mobile gaming, nWay embodies all the key strengths we look for in a portfolio company,” said March Capital Partners’ Gregory Milken. “As audiences look for more engaging competitive gaming experiences, we believe nWay is positioned to further define itself as one of the leading developers in this space.”
“Of the fifteen game investments we have made at Ridge Ventures, nWay has the strongest combination of real-time PvP technology and one of the most popular entertainment franchises of all time,” said Ridge Venture’s Phil Sanderson.
Existing nWay investors Baseline Ventures (Steve Anderson), TransLink Capital (Jay Eum) and WI Harper Group (Jeffrey Chu) also participated in this investment round.
The deal further expands the relationship between Lionsgate and Ridge Ventures, one that includes investments in other game developers that work closely with Hollywood properties, such as Telltale Games and Next Games, both of which include Peter Levin and Phil Sanderson as board members. Lionsgate has also previously invested alongside Gregory Milken in the professional esports organization Immortals.
