Scopely Raises $340 Million in Push to Be a Mobile-Gaming Giant

(Bloomberg) -- Scopely, the maker of mobile games such as Scrabble Go, Star Trek Fleet Command and Marvel Strike Force, raised $340 million in a new funding round, giving it fresh cash to extend a takeover spree.

The Series E financing, from investors such as Wellington Management, NewView Capital and TSG Consumer Partners, gives Scopely a post-money valuation of $3.3 billion, according to a person familiar with the situation. That’s nearly double its worth earlier this year.

Bloomberg reported last month that Scopely was raising the funds at a roughly $3 billion valuation.

The funding could help the company make large acquisitions and fill out its lineup, co-CEO Walter Driver said in an interview. Targets could include studios focused on new game genres or companies offering complementary gaming technologies, he said.

“I don’t think there’s a clear upper bound on the size of deal that we can do,” Driver said, adding that Scopely’s strategic investors may be willing to cough up more capital if needed to make a larger purchase. “We could buy very sizable assets if an opportunity presents itself.”

Scopely bought FoxNext Games from Walt Disney Co. earlier this year, in addition to deals for companies such as Digit Game Studios and PierPlay.

Nine-year-old Scopely is profitable, and will book more than $900 million in bookings this year, Driver said. The company has enjoyed a compound annual growth rate of more than 70% for the last seven years, he said.

Users spend an average of 80 minutes a day with the company’s games, and -- like the rest of the industry -- Scopely has benefited from people playing more because of the Covid-19 pandemic, Driver said. The Culver City, California-based developer has about 950 employees around the world.

The company has “no imminent plans to go public,” Driver said. And he hasn’t hired bankers for an initial public offering -- despite outside interest in the idea.

“There’s a lot of interest in the sector from public-sector investors, which leads to a lot of interest from investment bankers,” he said.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.