Istanbul’s Dream Games raises $155M, becomes a unicorn

Istanbul-based mobile gaming studio Dream Games has raised $155 million in a Series A funding round led by Index Ventures and Makers Fund, with Balderton Capital, IVP and Kora also participating. 

The valuation of Dream Games, which raised $50 million Series A last February, reached $1 billion with its new funding round, and the mobile puzzle game developer became a unicorn. With this round, the gaming startup has increased its valuation nearly 5 times in just 4 months.

Dream Games, which mainly focus on match-3 casual games, plans to use the funding for global user acquisition activities across different channels. Soner Aydemir, co-founder and CEO, Dream Games, said in an interview that Asia would be a focus in user acquisition activities, specifically Japan, South Korea and China. “Our main target is to scale the game so that it becomes one of the biggest games in the global market.”

Dream Games was founded in 2019 by a team of ex-Peak employees, another Istanbul-based mobile gaming studio which was acquired by Zynga for $1.8 billion in May, 2020. 

“When we released the first version of Royal Match in March, we saw the potential of the game,” Aydemir said. “But after we released the game in the U.S., Japan, Germany, and the United Kingdom, we didn’t expect that much success. But we saw huge retention and monetization metrics. People love the game. After we saw the growth of the game, we immediately decided to do another round so we do not lose the momentum.”

Dream’s first title Royal Match, which was launched in March and has reached 6 million MAUs, is the main focus of the new funding. 

“Since its launch in early March, Royal Match has become one of the top casual puzzle titles globally, driven by once in a decade retention metrics. It speaks to the sheer quality of the title that the Dream Games team has built and the flawless polish and execution across the board,” said Stephane Kurgan, venture partner at Index Ventures and former COO of King.