Germany's Flaregames raises $12.2M for free-to-play mobile games

German mobile game startup Flaregames has raised $12.2 million in venture funding from Accel Partners and T-Venture. This shows that the ante for participating in the fast-growing mobile game sector — which could be a $35 billion business by 2017 — is going up.

Karlsruhe, Germany-based Flaregames was founded in 2011 by Klaas Kersting, the founder of online game publisher Gameforge. The company is focusing on creating mid-core games for mobile devices. Those are games whose subject matter or mechanics appeal to hardcore gamers, but can be played in shorter time cycles.

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Flaregames will use the money to hire people and market the company’s upcoming free-to-play games. The company has already released BraveSmart, a mobile game that debuted in May 2012. Since then, the company has grown revenues to seven figures per month and launched its Royal Revolt mobile game series. The latest title, Royal Revolt II, debuted in February and reached 1.5 million downloads on Android and iOS within the 10 days. That made the game profitable.

“There is a great market opportunity for a games publishing entity that has marketing and monetization expertise as well as strong roots in development. Flaregames has already transformed its organization from a self-publishing developer to a developing publisher and has demonstrated its ability to make games that are both profitable and loved by gamers,” said Harry Nelis, partner at Accel Partners and member of flaregames’s board of advisors.

Kersting, CEO and founder of Flaregames, added in a statement, “This round of funding enables us to invest in bigger projects, both external and internal: We have half a dozen games in development at our studios in Karlsruhe and Frankfurt — and are already working with a number of major US developers on undisclosed projects. Flaregames has a full pipeline of games, and we look forward to sharing more exciting news about our upcoming titles as the year progresses.”

To date, the company has now raised $23 million from Accel, T-Venture, and an undisclosed investor.

The company has 70 employees in studios in Karlsruhe and Frankfurt.