Zynga Raises $147M From Japan's Softbank

Continuing its recent series of major deals in both Asia and the States, social game developer Zynga has raised a ¥13.5 billion ($147 million) investment from Japanese telecommunications and media corporation Softbank. With this new financing, the FarmVille firm has brought its total amount of venture backing up to some $366 million since it set up shop three years ago in San Francisco. The funding follows just a month after Zynga made what it described its first step into Asia's social gaming market with its acquisition of Beijing-based studio XPD Media. Earlier this year, the company also set up its first international office relatively closeby in Bangalore, India. Softbank and Zynga are in talks to distribute and jointly promote social games through Softbank's mobile services in Japan and other countries, according to a report from Bloomberg. The Tokyo-based corporation has showed a recent interest in backing social game developers, investing $10 million in Redwood City's RockYou (Zoo World, Birthday Cards) earlier this month. Softbank also contributed to a $50 million round of funding for the developer last November to help grow RockYou's expansion to Asia.