With 30 million downloads under their belt, is it any surprise that Rovio, the creators of Angry Birds, managed to secure a whopping $42 million dollars to further its “strategic expansion”? Rovio, earlier today via their official blog, announced that it secured a $42 million A series investment by venture-capital firms Accel Partners and Atomico Ventures with the participation of Felicis Ventures. It’s obvious that no one knew just how big Angry Birds would eventually get. The popular and addicting game which allows you to fire ticked off birds at egg thieving pigs is overwhelmingly difficult to put down. It’s popularity is so wildly spread abroad that the company claims to have 40 million monthly active users with 80% of those users actively updating the app. And it’s definitley no surprise that the game has topped the charts on most mobile gaming platforms. That being said, the game isn’t even the half of it. Rovio has marketed their brand so far and wide, the venture has produced board games, plush toys with sales in the range of 2 million units and even a 20th Century Fox animated feature film. There’s even discussions of an up and coming Angry Birds animated television series. Who would have thunk it?
“With Angry Birds, we have successfully launched not only a strong new brand, but also a whole new entertainment franchise.
[via rovio]