Nix Hydra nets $5 million in funding for mobile games for women

Today, Los Angeles-based mobile game studio Nix Hydra announced $5 million in funding from VC firm Foundry Group, which also contributed funding to Zynga and Harmonix. The studio has so far produced Egg Baby, a virtual pet mobile game which has so far seen 9 million downloads with "zero marketing spend," according to the company. The studio was founded by Lina Chen and Naomi Ladizinsky in 2012; its aim is "making games for a predominantly female fan base," according to Chen, who serves as the company's CEO. "Having spent a significant time in the gaming space serving on the boards of Zynga and Harmonix, I can say first hand that there aren't enough companies focused on creating apps and games for young women -- and even fewer that are run by women," said Foundry Group managing director Brad Feld in a statement announcing the funding. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal's tech blog Ladizinsky said, "This market is new, but so far we’ve seen a lot of repeats with the same ideas iterated on over and over again. It’s a tech dude’s perspective." The company plans to use the funding to hire staff and expand into international markets, as well as work on new titles and expand Egg Baby into a franchise.