Social Game Publisher 6 Waves Secures $17.5M

Hong Kong-based social games developer and publisher 6 Waves raised $17.5 million in a recent round of funding led by technology and internet investment firm Insight Venture Partners. The startup plans to use this new financing to continue building its infrastructure and distribution pipelines, as well as support its international expansion and platform extension. Founded in 2008 by three former Yahoo employees, 6 Waves has since published over 20 games like World Poker, Happy Harvest, Animal Paradise and My Fishbowl on Facebook. Those titles and its other releases has helped the company attract more than 50 million monthly active users. It's also regularly churning out new games such as Happy Hotel, Dress Me Up, and Shadow Empire. 6 Waves says its goal is to publish the next generation of social games for every genre, language, and platform. It works with developers to provide services for distribution, localization, monetization and infrastructure to help its clients grow in the social gaming market. The company also cross-promotes clients with an ad network across its many releases. Though 6 Waves so far has stuck with Facebook, co-founder and CEO Ng says he's examining country- and language-specific social networks like Mmixi, Cyworld, Netlog, and others whose progress "resembles the initial growth curve of Facebook," according to a report from Inside Facebook. He also mentioned the possibility of expanding its office beyond Hong Kong and setting up teams in Singapore, Taiwan, and the U.S. "Social games have expanded rapidly fueled by the strong growth of social networks," says Rex Ng. "Millions of people are connecting with each other and players globally, to meet online and play together everyday. We are excited about this new relationship with Insight given their knowledge and experience of online gaming and their dedication to helping us build geographic diversification and an unparalleled consumer experience."