Mobile interactive entertainment company Cypher Games has raised $30 million funding. Cypher Games is an Istanbul-based mobile gaming company developing casual titles with a focus on next-generation puzzle and luck games.
With its first game approaching launch, the company aims to shape the future of mobile gaming in partnership with colleagues and investors by introducing a novel match-3 concept featuring built-in social features.
The Raine Group and Play Ventures led the round. The Raine Group specialises in gaming, technology, media, entertainment, and sports, while Play Ventures focuses on early-stage gaming and consumer apps.
The round was oversubscribed, with participation from MIT, E2VC and Huuuge Founder Anton Gauffin’s VC Big Bets. They join existing backers, Discord CEO Humam Sakhnini, King Founder Riccardo Zacconi and Tripledot Co-Founder Akin Babayigit.
“We’re thrilled to close this Series A fundraising with the support of such a strong investor group,” said Anil Simsek, Co-Founder and CEO of Cypher Games.
“Our mission is to pursue innovation and deliver it with top-tier storytelling and premium production quality, at the fastest possible pace. This new funding provides the liquidity necessary to execute on that vision as we bring our game to market.”
This investment follows the successful completion of Cypher’s $10 million seed investment round in September 2024, which enabled the expansion of the Cypher team and accelerated development of its debut match-3 game, Match Squad. Match Squad combines match-3 mechanics with dice-based gameplay, uniting two of the most popular genres in the casual mobile gaming category.
According to Simsek, players expect something new every year:
“They look for innovation and meaningful differences. Match Squad offers the perfect intersection of luck and skill in the core loop – something we believe is missing in today’s mobile games.”
He added:
“We are bringing the true social core of luck-battle games to match-3 by combining them with city-building metagames. We don’t aim to differentiate for the sake of being different.
We operate in pursuit of the perfect feeling, bringing all players under one roof and expanding the potential player base. We won’t stop until we achieve it.”
According to John Salter, co-founder and Partner of The Raine Group, the Cypher team pushes the boundaries of the match-3 genre with their innovative integration of the dice mechanic.
“They have continued to attract the best talent in Turkey, which is evident in the beautiful game design and best-in-class gameplay in Match Squad.
We look forward to supporting the execution of the team’s innovative strategy as Cypher continues to shape the future of the casual gaming ecosystem.”
According to Harri Manninen, a Founding Partner at Play Ventures, 'Cypher has one of the strongest art and design visions in the world.
"The team invests heavily in experience and emotional design, actively seeking out the best talent in Turkey.
We were the first to back Cypher, a young, world-class team that has quickly evolved into a true global design and art powerhouse. With Match Squad, they are set to redefine the match-3 genre, and early metrics already show incredible player engagement along with the best-in-class early to mid-term retention.''
Cypher will use this most recent funding to identify more talent to support the Match Squad rollout and execute on the Company’s long-term vision for game development, initiating the creative production process for its second game within the next two years.
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