Beijing-based gaming publisher Yodo1 raised $11 million of Series B funding led by GGV Capital, along with Pavillion Capital, Iris Capital, and SingTel Innov8. The company announced $5 million funding this April from SingTel Innov8, the corporate venture arm of a mobile carrier.
The funding will be used to strengthen core business and support expansion to Japanese and Korean markets. They have just opened up a local studio in Seoul.
Backed by a full blown team of 125+, Yodo1 offers cross-border strategies for both Chinese and foreign gaming developers by getting access to code base of a western game and modify the graphics, virtual items and music for local Chinese tastes, or vice versa.
Yodo1 has co-developed a number of hit games, including Cut the Rope, Time Travel from ZeptoLab (Russia), Powder Monkeys from XMG Studio (Canada), Ski Safari from Defiant Development (Australia), and Clouds & Sheep from HandyGames (Germany).
Yodo1 now has more than 90 million mobile gamers in China, up 750% from 2012, according to Henry Fong, co-founder and CEO of the company.
Chinese market has long been a hard nut to crack for foreign game developers due to language and cultural barriers, and native social network ecosystem. Even those that managed to win plaudits from Chinese players still need a Chinese-friendly payment system before they can monetize, which in turn, creates a huge market for gaming localization businesses.
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