Jam City Inc. is moving on after canceling plans to go public via a reverse merger.
The Culver City mobile games company has raised $350 million in equity and debt financing and moved forward with plans to buy Montreal-based Ludia Inc. for $165 million.
The move comes a couple of months after Jam City announced it wouldn’t be merging with DPCM Capital Inc. as planned. That transaction would have valued the combined company at $1.2 billion and provided proceeds to buy Ludia for $175 million.
Things have changed, however, with Jam City raising its largest round to date from investors including Netmarble, Kabam and affiliates of funds managed by Fortress Investment Group, as well as buying Ludia from Fremantle.
Founded in 2010 by MySpace co-founders DeWolfe and Aber Whitcomb with former 20th Century Fox executive Josh Yguado, Jam City, formerly known as SGN, followed its flagship title “Cookie Jam” and “Panda Pop” with games developed around major IP such as “Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery,” “Marvel Avengers Academy,” a couple of “Family Guy” games, “Snoopy Pop” and “Futurama: Worlds of Tomorrow.” The company has key licensing deals with DC and some Disney brands.
Ludia’s portfolio includes original games based brands such as “Jurassic World,” “DreamWorks Dragons” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” as well as upcoming DC and Disney titles.
Here’s what else L.A. tech companies got up to in the past couple of weeks:
Funding
- Flip, the Los Angeles-based social commerce app that connects shoppers to beauty and wellness products through video reviews, has closed a $28 million Series A round led by Silicon Valley’s Streamlined Ventures, bringing its total funding to nearly $32 million.
- TikTok, Snap and Google alums have launched Mayk.it with $4 million in funding for a free social music-creation app that equips users with professional-quality voice filters, produced beats, lyrical and visual inspiration tools, in-app distribution, audience and community on-demand.
- L.A.-based DNABlock has raised $1.2 million in a seed round led by SoftBank’s SB Opportunity Fund to help users create photorealistic 3D avatars and cinema-quality animated content with no code or animation knowledge.
- H Code, the Santa Monica-based multicultural digital media company, has secured a capital investment backed by Falfurrias Capital Partners to continue to build end-to-end capabilities for publishers and advertisers across both existing and new markets.
Name changes
- Auto-leasing company Fair is changing its name — and its strategy. The Beverly Hills digital auto platform said it will launch an end-to-end e-commerce marketplace that offers both inventory and comprehensive financing, insurance and extended warranties. The transition, which includes a name change to Fair Technologies, is slated to launch in select markets in the first quarter of 2022.
- Los Angeles-based ParkPlace is also changing its name to Ocra (an acronym for “one-click rate adjustment”) for its omni-channel management platform for parking operators — a one-stop shop for automating rate and inventory adjustments, blackouts and reporting across all sales channels.
