Which startups have raised the most funding in the mobile gaming market?
A constantly refreshed ranking of the top startups in the mobile gaming market, ranked by cumulative funding raised

In our updated market reports, you will find everything you need
The mobile gaming market includes game studios, publishers, esports platforms, adtech companies, and monetization infrastructure built around mobile games.
This ranking is updated every month so investors, founders, and operators can track which mobile gaming startups have raised the most capital over time.
The list shows that the largest funding totals often come from IPO-scale publishers, ad monetization platforms, and a few very large private gaming companies.
A quick summary table
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Most funded startup | Netmarble, with $2.9B raised |
| Second most funded startup | ironSource, with $2.7B raised |
| Largest funding round | Netmarble, $2.4B IPO in May 2017 |
| Median funding | $28.5M across the full ranked dataset, or $55M across funded companies only |
| Share of funding captured by the top 10 | About 70% of total identified funding |
| Median time since last round | About 8 years, based on dated funding events |
| Startups that raised funding in the last 12 months | 1 startup, Liftoff |
| Mobile gaming IPO and public-market outcomes | 17 companies are listed as IPO-stage businesses |
| Mobile gaming acquisition outcomes | 29 companies are listed as acquired |
| Mobile gaming infrastructure funding concentration | ironSource, AppLovin, Liftoff, Moloco, Tapjoy, Vungle, Chartboost, Fyber, Mintegral, and AdColony represent about $5.7B |
Top startups in the mobile gaming market ranked by total funding raised
Here is an updated table that ranks the top startups in the mobile gaming market based on the total amount of funding they have raised to date.
The table also includes the total number of funding rounds, the date and size of the latest round, the financing type, key investors, the startup’s current status, and a confidence score based on the data collected.
| # | Startup | What They Do | Total Raised ($) | Total Rounds | Last Round Date | Last Round Amount ($) | Last Round Type | Key Investors | Current Stage | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Netmarble | Mobile game publisher | $2.9B | 2 | May 2017 | $2.4B | IPO | Tencent, Intops Investment | IPO | Full |
| 2 | ironSource | App monetization platform | $2.7B | 3 | June 2021 | $2.1B | SPAC / PIPE | Thoma Bravo Advantage, PIPE investors | Acquired | Strong |
| 3 | AppLovin | Mobile app ad platform | $2.2B | 3 | April 2021 | $1.8B | IPO | Public investors, KKR, J.P. Morgan | IPO | Strong |
| 4 | Zynga | Social and mobile games | $2.0B | 7 | December 2011 | $1.0B | IPO | Google, SoftBank, Kleiner Perkins | Acquired | Partial |
| 5 | Scopely | Mobile game publisher | $999M | 8 | October 2020 | $340M | Series E | Wellington Management, NewView Capital, BlackRock | Acquired | Strong |
| 6 | Niantic | Location-based AR games | $780M | 6 | November 2021 | $300M | Series D | Coatue | Active | Strong |
| 7 | King | Candy Crush mobile games | $543M | 2 | March 2014 | $500M | IPO | Apax Partners, Index Ventures, public investors | Acquired | Strong |
| 8 | Voodoo | Hypercasual mobile games | $514M | 3 | August 2021 | $314M | Growth / Preferred Equity | GBL, Goldman Sachs, Tencent | Active | Partial |
| 9 | Playtika | Social casino mobile games | $500M | 1 | January 2021 | $500M | IPO | BlackRock, Caledonia, Dragoneer | IPO | Partial |
| 10 | Dream Games | Casual puzzle games | $468M | 4 | January 2022 | $255M | Series C | Index Ventures, BlackRock, Makers Fund | Active | Full |
| 11 | Kakao Games | Game publisher platform | $452M | 2 | September 2020 | $320M | IPO | Tencent, Netmarble, Bluehole Studio | IPO | Full |
| 12 | Liftoff | Mobile app growth platform | $442M | 4 | June 2026 | $437M | IPO | Public investors, Blackstone | IPO | Partial |
| 13 | Mobile Premier League | Mobile esports gaming platform | $376M | 5 | September 2021 | $150M | Series E | Legatum Capital, Sequoia Capital India, Moore Strategic Ventures | Active | Strong |
| 14 | X.D. Network | Games and TapTap platform | $296M | 5 | April 2021 | $124M | Post-IPO Equity | Bilibili, Orient Securities, GF Securities | IPO | Partial |
| 15 | Wildlife Studios | Mobile game studio | $250M | 3 | August 2020 | $120M | Series B | Vulcan Capital, Human Capital | Active | Strong |
| 16 | GREE | Mobile social gaming platform | $250M | 4 | October 2011 | $15M | Post-IPO Equity | Rakuten, KDDI, Recruit | IPO | Partial |
| 17 | Kabam | Midcore mobile games | $245M | 5 | July 2014 | $120M | Series E | Alibaba Group | Acquired | Strong |
| 18 | Tilting Point | Free-to-play games publisher | $235M | 1 | July 2021 | $235M | Growth equity | General Atlantic, Red Ventures, Kamerra | Active | Full |
| 19 | Tripledot Studios | Casual mobile games | $202M | 3 | February 2022 | $116M | Series B | 20VC, Access Industries, Lightspeed | Active | Full |
| 20 | Moloco | ML-powered ad platform | $200M | 5 | August 2021 | $150M | Series C | Tiger Global, Samsung Ventures, Mirae Asset | Active | Strong |
| 21 | CMGE | IP-based mobile game publisher | $167M | 1 | October 2019 | $167M | IPO | Public market investors | IPO | Strong |
| 22 | Glu Mobile | Freemium mobile game publisher | $167M | 6 | May 2015 | $75M | Post-IPO Equity | NEA, Scale Venture Partners, Tencent | Acquired | Partial |
| 23 | Homa | Mobile games publishing tools | $165M | 3 | October 2022 | $100M | Series B | Quadrille Capital, Headline, Northzone | Active | Full |
| 24 | Jam City | Mobile game developer publisher | $158M | 2 | September 2021 | N/A | Mixed equity/debt | Netmarble, Kabam, Fortress Investment Group | Active | Partial |
| 25 | Pocket Gems | Mobile games and stories | $155M | 3 | May 2017 | $90M | Series C / strategic equity | Tencent, Sequoia Capital | Active | Full |
| 26 | Devsisters | Cookie Run developer | $141M | 3 | October 2014 | $136M | IPO | Com2uS, SoftBank Ventures, MVP Capital | IPO | Strong |
| 27 | IGG | Global mobile game operator | $138M | 6 | October 2013 | $123M | IPO | IDG Capital, Ridge Ventures, Vertex Ventures China | IPO | Partial |
| 28 | Zupee | Skill-based casual gaming | $121M | 5 | January 2022 | $72M | Series B | Nepean Capital, AJ Capital, WestCap | Active | Full |
| 29 | SundayToz | Casual puzzle games | $112M | 2 | March 2014 | $112M | Strategic stake investment | Smilegate | IPO | Partial |
| 30 | Games24x7 | Rummy fantasy sports games | $98M | 6 | March 2022 | $75M | Series C | Malabar Investments, Tiger Global, Raine Group | Active | Partial |
| 31 | Cygames | Mobile and console game studio | $93M | 2 | December 2012 | $92M | Corporate Minority | DeNA, CyberAgent, Nintendo | Active | Partial |
| 32 | WinZO | Vernacular real-money gaming | $90M | 4 | July 2021 | $65M | Series C | Griffin Gaming Partners, Makers Fund, Courtside Ventures | Active | Strong |
| 33 | FunPlus | Mobile strategy game publisher | $87M | 2 | March 2014 | $74M | Series B | Orchid Asia Group, GSR Ventures, Steamboat Ventures | Active | Strong |
| 34 | Gamevil | Mobile game publisher | $80M | 1 | June 2013 | $80M | Post-IPO equity | Yuanta Investment, Hyundai Venture Investment | IPO | Strong |
| 35 | Youzu Interactive | Mobile and browser game publisher | $79M | 1 | April 2014 | $79M | Reverse Merger | Susino, Green Pine Capital Partners | IPO | Partial |
| 36 | Rovio | Angry Birds mobile games | $78M | 3 | September 2017 | $35M | IPO | Accel, Atomico, Felicis Ventures | Acquired | Strong |
| 37 | Tapjoy | Offerwall monetization platform | $71M | 4 | July 2011 | $30M | Series D | J.P. Morgan, Rho Ventures, North Bridge | Acquired | Partial |
| 38 | Carry1st | African mobile games publisher | $57M | 5 | January 2023 | $27M | Series B / growth | BITKRAFT Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, TTV Capital | Active | Strong |
| 39 | Next Games | Licensed mobile game studio | $55M | 5 | March 2021 | $5M | Follow-on equity | IDG Ventures, AMC Networks, Lionsgate | Acquired | Partial |
| 40 | COLOPL | Smartphone games and location services | $54M | 2 | December 2012 | $48M | IPO | JAFCO, KDDI | IPO | Strong |
| 41 | Small Giant Games | Empires & Puzzles developer | $51M | 5 | February 2018 | $41M | Growth equity | EQT Ventures, Creandum, Spintop Ventures | Acquired | Partial |
| 42 | Vespa | King’s Raid developer | $50M | 1 | December 2018 | $50M | IPO | Public market investors | IPO | Partial |
| 43 | DeNA | Mobile games and internet services | $48M | 2 | February 2005 | $29M | IPO | Nippon Venture Capital, Nippon Technology Venture Partners | IPO | Partial |
| 44 | Skillz | Competitive mobile gaming platform | $47M | 4 | December 2017 | $25M | Series C | Telstra, Liberty Global, Accomplice | IPO | Strong |
| 45 | Wemade | MMORPG blockchain games | $46M | 2 | November 2022 | $46M | Post-IPO equity | Microsoft, Shinhan Asset Management, Kiwoom Securities | IPO | Partial |
| 46 | MAG Interactive | Casual mobile word games | $40M | 3 | December 2017 | $24M | IPO | Nokia Growth Partners, Swedbank Robur | IPO | Strong |
| 47 | Happy Elements | Social and mobile games | $35M | 2 | October 2011 | $30M | Series B | Legend Capital, DCM Ventures | Active | Full |
| 48 | Kuro Games | Anime action RPG developer | $30M | 1 | October 2019 | $30M | Strategic equity | Hero HootSuite / Hero Games | Acquired | Strong |
| 49 | Star Stable Entertainment | Online horse adventure game | $29M | 3 | December 2018 | $11M | Series A / Strategic | Nordisk Games, Kima Ventures, Longrun Capital | Acquired | Partial |
| 50 | Seriously Digital Entertainment | Best Fiends mobile games | $28M | 4 | August 2015 | $18M | Series A | Northzone, Korea Investment Partners, Upfront Ventures | Acquired | Full |
| 51 | Ten Square Games | Free-to-play mobile games | $28M | 1 | April 2018 | $28M | IPO | Public-market investors | IPO | Partial |
| 52 | Vungle | In-app video ads | $26M | 3 | February 2014 | $17M | Series B | Thomvest Ventures, Crosslink Capital, Google Ventures | Acquired | Strong |
| 53 | Lockwood Publishing | Avakin Life virtual world | $25M | 2 | November 2020 | $25M | Series A | Tencent, Novator Partners, David Helgason | Active | Strong |
| 54 | Metacore Games | Merge Mansion game studio | $24M | 2 | September 2020 | $18M | Series A | Supercell | Acquired | Full |
| 55 | Chartboost | Mobile game ad network | $21M | 2 | January 2013 | $19M | Series B | Sequoia Capital, TransLink Capital, SK Telecom Ventures | Acquired | Full |
| 56 | Space Ape Games | Multiplayer mobile games studio | $21M | 6 | May 2015 | $6M | Series C | Northzone, Accel, Initial Capital | Acquired | Partial |
| 57 | Peak Games | Casual puzzle games | $19M | 3 | September 2011 | $12M | Series B | Earlybird Venture Capital, Hummingbird Ventures | Acquired | Strong |
| 58 | Traplight | Mobile strategy game studio | $14M | 4 | July 2020 | $9M | Series B | EQT Ventures, Play Ventures, Initial Capital | Active | Strong |
| 59 | Machine Zone | Strategy mobile games | $13M | 2 | March 2012 | $8M | Series B | Menlo Ventures | Acquired | Strong |
| 60 | CrazyLabs | Hyper-casual mobile publisher | $13M | 3 | October 2013 | $12M | Series B | Qualcomm Ventures, Magma Venture Partners, Vintage Investment Partners | Acquired | Strong |
| 61 | Supercell | Multiplayer mobile games | $13M | 2 | May 2011 | $12M | Series A | Accel Partners, London Venture Partners, Lifeline Ventures | Acquired | Partial |
| 62 | Big Run Studios | Casual mobile game studio | $12M | 3 | August 2020 | $5M | Seed | Transcend Fund, Galaxy Interactive, Block.one | Active | Partial |
| 63 | Fyber | Mobile ad monetization | $10M | 2 | February 2011 | $5M | Series A2 | Nokia Growth Partners, Hasso Plattner Ventures, Team Europe | Acquired | Partial |
| 64 | Moon Active | Casual mobile games | $10M | 2 | 2011-2021 | $10M | Early / Private Equity | Gigi Levy-Weiss, Guy Gamzu, David Alliance | Active | Low |
| 65 | Com2uS | Mobile game developer | $8M | 1 | August 2005 | $8M | Series A | Storm Ventures, Walden International | Acquired | Strong |
| 66 | Habby | Hybrid-casual mobile games | $7M | 2 | March 2020 | $7M | Series A | Daguang Capital | Active | Partial |
| 67 | Hutch Games | Mobile racing game studio | $6M | 2 | February 2017 | $6M | Series A | Index Ventures, Backed VC, Initial Capital | Acquired | Strong |
| 68 | Supersolid | Casual mobile game studio | $5M | 2 | October 2017 | $4M | Series A | Index Ventures, Passion Capital, Initial Capital | Active | Strong |
| 69 | Trailmix | Story-driven puzzle games | $4M | 1 | February 2018 | $4M | Seed / Series A | Supercell | Acquired | Strong |
| 70 | Lilith Games | Strategy RPG mobile games | $3M | 2 | March 2014 | $3M | Series A | IDG Capital | Active | Strong |
| 71 | Elex | Strategy mobile games | $3M | 1 | 2008 | $3M | Seed | Tencent | Acquired | Partial |
| 72 | Futureplay Games | Casual mobile game studio | $3M | 2 | August 2016 | $3M | Series A | London Venture Partners, DN Capital, Creandum | Acquired | Full |
| 73 | AdColony | Mobile video ad platform | $2M | 3 | Undisclosed | $2M | Seed / early equity | Insight Partners, Pasadena Angels | Acquired | Partial |
| 74 | Ludia | Licensed mobile game developer | $2M | 1 | April 2007 | $2M | Series A | White Star Capital | Acquired | Low |
| 75 | Gram Games | Casual puzzle games | $600K | 3 | January 2014 | $600K | Early VC | Hummingbird Ventures, FJ Labs, Fabrice Grinda | Acquired | Partial |
| 76 | miHoYo | Anime-style mobile games | $160K | 1 | January 2012 | $160K | Angel | Song Tao | Active | Strong |
| 77 | Miniclip | Online and mobile games | $58K | 1 | 2001 | $58K | Founder / Seed | Robert Small, Tihan Presbie | Acquired | Low |
| 78 | Mintegral | Mobvista ad platform | $0 | 0 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | Active | Full |
| 79 | Nordeus | Football management games | $0 | 0 | N/A | N/A | N/A | Israel Japan Fund | Acquired | Low |
| 80 | Rollic | Hyper-casual game publisher | $0 | 0 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | Acquired | Low |
| 81 | SayGames | Hybrid-casual game publisher | $0 | 0 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | Active | Full |
| 82 | Kwalee | Mobile games publisher | $0 | 0 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | Active | Full |
| 83 | Outfit7 | Talking Tom mobile franchise | $0 | 0 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | Acquired | Full |
| 84 | Fusebox Games | Interactive romance story games | $0 | 0 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | Acquired | Low |
| 85 | Playrix | Casual puzzle mobile games | $0 | 0 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | Active | Full |
| 86 | Easybrain | Casual puzzle mobile games | $0 | 0 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | Acquired | Full |
| 87 | PeopleFun | Word puzzle mobile games | $0 | 1 | 2019 | N/A | Seed / Corporate Minority | AppLovin | Acquired | Low |
| 88 | Azur Games | Mobile game publisher | $0 | 0 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | Active | Full |
| 89 | MobilityWare | Classic mobile card games | $0 | 0 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | Active | Full |
| 90 | Brainium Studios | Casual puzzle mobile games | $0 | 0 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | Acquired | Full |
| 91 | Storm8 | Casual social mobile games | $0 | 0 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | Acquired | Full |
| 92 | Century Games | Global mobile game studio | $0 | 0 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | Acquired | Strong |
| 93 | Yotta Games | Mobile strategy game developer | $0 | 0 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | Active | Strong |
| 94 | Paper Games | Female-oriented mobile games | $0 | 0 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | Active | Low |
| 95 | Yostar | Anime game publisher | $0 | 0 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | Active | Strong |
| 96 | Hypergryph | Arknights game developer | $0 | 0 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | Active | Low |
| 97 | Manjuu | Azur Lane game developer | $0 | 0 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | Active | Low |
| 98 | GungHo Online Entertainment | Puzzle & Dragons publisher | $0 | 1 | March 2005 | N/A | IPO | Public market investors | IPO | Low |
Key funding trends in the mobile gaming market
Insights
- The top 10 mobile gaming companies captured about 70% of all identified funding, which shows how strongly capital concentrates around scaled publishers and monetization platforms.
- Mobile gaming infrastructure is a major funding theme, with ironSource, AppLovin, Liftoff, Moloco, Tapjoy, Vungle, Chartboost, Fyber, Mintegral, and AdColony representing about $5.7B.
- Active private mobile gaming companies raised about $3.3B, but Niantic, Dream Games, Mobile Premier League, Wildlife Studios, and Tilting Point account for most of that capital.
- The mobile gaming market has produced many acquisition outcomes, and several studios reached exits with modest fundraising, including Rovio, Metacore Games, Seriously, Peak Games, and Futureplay Games.
- India-focused mobile gaming companies are meaningful in this dataset, with Mobile Premier League, Zupee, WinZO, and Games24x7 together raising about $685M.
- Tencent appears across several important mobile gaming outcomes, including Netmarble, Kakao Games, Voodoo, Pocket Gems, Lockwood Publishing, Glu Mobile, and Elex.
- Casual and puzzle games show a wide funding spread, from Dream Games at $468M to large bootstrapped or near-bootstrapped companies such as Playrix and Easybrain.
- Scopely stands out as the clearest venture-style mobile gaming scale-up, with eight identified rounds and nearly $1.0B raised before acquisition.
A few word about our methodology
As you can see, we built a database that ranks startups in the mobile gaming market based on their total cumulative fundraising. To create this ranking, we reviewed many sources and cross-checked information across multiple places.
Whenever possible, we prioritized official company communications, since the official company source is usually the most reliable source for funding amounts. When those were not available, we relied on reputable industry sources such as TechCrunch, Crunchbase, Financial Times, Forbes, GamesIndustry.biz, Pocket Gamer, VentureBeat, or company IPO filings.
We excluded random blogs, unverified websites, and any sources that could not be validated.
When funding rounds were announced in other currencies such as euros, pounds, Korean won, Japanese yen, Indian rupees, or Chinese yuan, we converted them into approximate USD equivalents for consistency.
Sometimes different sources report slightly different numbers, or the exact round size is not fully disclosed. In those cases, we flag the uncertainty and assign a confidence label to each startup, visible in the last column.
Here is what they mean.
Full confidence: The company’s equity fundraising history can be reconstructed completely from public sources. The rounds, dates, amounts, and key investors are clearly identified, with no meaningful gaps.
Strong confidence: The fundraising history is largely complete and reliable. There may be a small missing detail, such as incomplete investor information or a minor round with limited data, but the overall record is clear.
Partial confidence: The main fundraising rounds can be identified, but the record is incomplete or somewhat mixed. Some rounds may be missing or certain funding events may be difficult to separate clearly.
Low confidence: Public information is too limited, inconsistent, or ambiguous to reliably reconstruct the company’s equity fundraising history.
When the confidence level is too low, we take a conservative approach and clearly flag the company. We don’t want readers to confuse rough funding reconstruction with fully verified fundraising data.
In a world where LLMs hallucinate and unreliable information is everywhere, our goal is simple: provide data you can trust.
If you want the full detail on a specific calculation, feel free to contact us and we will gladly explain.
Finally, know that we update the dataset once per month, so come back here if you need fresh information.
Related blog posts
- What are the key fundraising trends in the mobile gaming market?
- The highest-valued startups in the mobile gaming market
- What does funding activity look like in the mobile gaming market?
- A complete overview of funding deals in the mobile gaming market
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