Local mobile game studio Grand Games raised $30 million in a Series A round led by Balderton Capital. Bek Ventures (formerly Earlybird Digital East), Laton Ventures, and Mert Gür also participated in the round.
Founded in 2024, Grand Games entered the top 1% of global player acquisition and revenue metrics with its games Car Match and Magic Sort!. The startup developed its games with a team of 14 in 10 months.
The Istanbul-based game studio plans to establish studios that will create new game genres with the investment and publish its games worldwide. The startup aims to create a new unicorn from Turkey.
Grand Games Co-Founder and CEO Bekir Batuhan Çelebi said, “We owe our success in reaching over $1 million in gross revenue in 10 months with a team of only 14 to our team culture and strategy. With the investment we received, we will continue to grow our team with new product leaders, developers and game artists while preserving our studio-based work structure and culture. Our door is open to all talented and passionate people who are ready to change the rules of the mobile gaming industry." he said.
Suranga Chandratillake, Partner at Balderton, said, “Istanbul is home to some of the most successful game studios in the world. Grand Games stands out in this ecosystem with its strong team culture and vision of creating new casual game genres at world standards. We are very excited to work with the Grand Games team with their passion for games and their boundless ambition.”
Oğuzhan Özer from Bek Ventures said, “Grand Games has once again reinforced our trust in them with the performance they have shown in this short period since our seed investment. It is a great pleasure for us to continue to support them on this journey.”
Laton Ventures Founder Görkem Türk; “We are very happy with the success of Grand Games, which was one of our first investments. As we emphasized in our pre-seed round that we took part in, we believe in their strategy; “We believe that Grand Games is on its way to becoming Turkey’s new unicorn with this Series A investment round, which is a first in terms of speed in Turkey, and the rare game metrics it has achieved.”
