SilverBirch Gets $500,000 For CrossFire English Launch

Toronto-based SilverBirch is getting $500,000 in equity financing. The company is parent to several interactive entertainment businesses, including mobile and handheld game developer SilverBirch Studios. The company says it'll invest most of the new funding in the upcoming English-version launch of multiplayer online first-person shooter CrossFire, which it says as been "a tremendous success" in China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam. CrossFire is developed by SmileGate and NeoWiz and published by Tencent in Asia, and SilverBirch has the English language publishing rights in North America and the UK. Since its Asian launch, SilverBirch says the game has reported over 500,000 concurrent users. The company plans to launch the English-language version "before year end." The company's operations also include Netherlands-based publisher Lighthouse Interactive, and SilverBirch has a partnership with G4Box to operate licensed English language online multiplayer games. On the mobile side, it provides marketing services through Jambo Mobile Solutions, and content via an investment in CrossRoad Mobile. The new financing comes from Aberdeen Gould Capital Markets, who will provide the $500,000 through a private placement of equity.