Indie incubator Execution Labs nets $5.3M to fund more developers

Montreal-based indie incubator Execution Labs has raised an additional $6 million Canadian ($5.3 million USD) in its latest round of funding for the expansion of both its staff and its services to game makers worldwide. This is worth noting because rather than running a single accelerator program for Canadian indies, Execution Labs will now be running two discrete initiatives: a "finishing fund" that is available worldwide and a Montreal-based "pre-production accelerator" that will provide three months of shared workspace, mentorship opportunities and funding to the tune of $50,000 Canadian ($44,184 USD) to developers whose core teams are willing to work out of Montreal and who have not yet entered full production. The "finishing fund", on the other hand, is meant to provide experienced indie game makers with an unspecified amount of funding and mentorship right as their games are about to enter the final phases of testing and marketing prior to release. Execution Labs, founded in 2012 by industry veteran Jason Della Rocca, previously provided five Canadian studios with seed funding, office space, development tools and mentoring from game development experts. The fruits of that investment include mobile games like MacGuffin Quest and The Order of Souls. The incubator's latest round of funding was led by Toronto-based media firm Corus Entertainment, and included prior Execution Labs investors like Real Ventures, White Star Capital and BDC Capital. As part of the arrangement, Corus Entertainment EVP Scott Dyer will take a seat on the board of Execution Labs.