Digital crossword puzzle company PuzzleSocial raises $3 million in funding

Here’s a six-letter word every company likes to hear: funded.

PuzzleSocial has completed a $3 million Series A funding round led by Kiwi Tech. Other investors included Thayor Bigelow (former president of HBO) and Mark Wachen of Upstage Ventures. In total, the company has raised $4.8 million.

Founded in 2010, the New York-based developer creates digital crossword puzzles for mobile devices via Daily Celebrity Crossword. That game is the No. 34 free puzzle game for iPhone, according to AppAnnie. A digital crossword puzzle might not seem flashy, but it can still help a company have a part of the lucrative mobile industry, which could be worth $25 billion in worldwide revenues by the end 2014, according to market researcher Newzoo.

Besides, crosswords puzzles are still in every newspaper for a reason; they’re popular. It’s not surprising that they’re transitioning to the digital age. It does have to compete with other digital crossword puzzle games for iOS, including The New York Times Crossword app.

“It’s really hard to put out a fun, accessible puzzle loaded with fresh content and relevant to today’s world 365 days a year,” PuzzleSocial chief executive officer Jeb Balise told GamesBeat. “It took us two years to build the technical and IP infrastructure as a foundation to do what we do.”