5th Planet Games pulls in $3 million in its first funding round

Jupiter is the fifth planet from the sun. It has 63 moons. 5th Planet Games is a developer of mobile games. It now has $3 million.

The studio revealed today that it secured $3 million in its first funding round. 5th Planet develops deep role-playing games as well as collectible-card games for mobile and the Web, and that experience convinced DCA Capital Partners to lead the investment with participation from Moneta Ventures. Gamers spent $16 billion on mobile in 2013, and that number will likely surpass $20 billion this year.

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5th Planet will use the money to help get its upcoming slate of games to the market quicker. The studio will also use the investment to for marketing and user acquisition.

“Our success to date has come by building the types of games that we want to play ourselves and by involving our player community as an integral part of our strategy,” 5th Planet chief executive Robert Winkler said. “Our growth from a small indie studio to where we are today reflects the strong demand for our unique style of games, and this infusion of capital will allow us to grow even faster, especially on mobile platforms.”

The developer previously released the RPGs Clash of Dragons and Legacy of a Thousand Suns for iOS, Andorid, and the Web. It has grown from four employees in 2009 that focused on releasing small games for Flash websites like Kongregate to a team of 70 today.

This is the first investment round for 5th Planet.

“The fact that 5th Planet Games was able to grow as quickly as it has without taking any prior investment is the sign of a well-run and innovative company that is truly in touch with its player community,” DCA Capital partner Curt Rocca said.

While 5th Planet has released games on mobile, it is looking to grow that part of its business even further.

“Mobile represents a huge growth opportunity for the entire gaming sector, and 5th Planet Games has been able to attract a very loyal and very passionate following among the mobile core-gaming audience,” Moneta Ventures partner Lokesh Sikaria said. “Most of the capital is earmarked for the company to create more great games and to market those games to a broader audience around the world.”

Rocca and Siikaria will join 5th Planet’s board of directors.

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“It is also great to have the two leading regionally focused investment firms collaborating to create more local success stories,” said Rocca. “We are pleased to be partnered with Moneta on this endeavor, and are confident that both investor groups can contribute to 5th Planet’s future success.”