Game recording app Kamcord has sealed US$15 million of B series funding, led by Japanese mobile game giant Gungho. China’s Tencent also participated in the round, having invested in earlier rounds. Also contributing to the round was game company Wargaming, which claims to have over 100 million active users.
Kamcord allows users to record and share video of gameplay through an embedded software development kit (SDK). It’s become increasingly popular in Asian markets as well as the U.S. where the brand was founded.
The funding has cemented San Francisco-based Kamcord’s move into the Asian market. In 2012 they launched as an iOS-only application with US$2.5 million in seed funding. They tested their first Android version in September last year.
According to the company, the development of the Android version has been the primary driver in its Asian expansion, along with the backing of regional tech giants Tencent and Gungho. Kamcord has also recently set up offices in Japan, which they say has been a “major factor” in their growth.
In May, Technode reported that Kamcord had begun supporting Asian social platforms WeChat and Line, allowing users to share video through them. Mobile gaming is one of the biggest, and most profitable, technology sectors in China, and has experienced exponential growth since 2013.
Despite this healthy backing, Kamcord will still have to compete with popular local platforms. Earlier this year, Chinese video social network YY re-launched gameplay video sharing app Duopai, following the success of gameplay videos on its PC-based site. Unlike Kamcord, Duopai does not require users to install an SDK. YY claims it generated RMB31.1 million (US$5 million) from gameplay streaming (on its PC-based site) by the end of Q2 in 2014.
Other investors in Kamcord’s B series also include TransLink Capital, M&Y Growth Partners, Merus Capital, and XG Ventures. Co-founder Aditya Rathnam informed Technode that at the time of Twitch’s acquisition, Kamcord had 1.3 million content uploaders per month, with over 25 million videos shared.
Editing by Mike Cormack (@bucketoftongues)
It’s Gungho not GuangHo, and Wargaming is HQ’ed in Cyprus