Activision Blizzard has pulled another video game studio under its umbrella.
Courtesy of Activision
Blizzard Entertainment Inc. has bought Boston-based studio Proletariat to better serve players in its online role-playing game "World of Warcraft."
Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.
"Over the next two years, we plan to hire hundreds of the best developers to serve the needs of our 'World of Warcraft' players,” said Activision Blizzard (Nasdaq: ATVI) CEO Bobby Kotick in a statement. “The extraordinary team at Proletariat will be a key component of our talent acquisition efforts."
Proletariat began working with the "World of Warcraft" development team in May and will be fully integrated into Blizzard over the coming months.
Proletariat was founded in 2012 by industry veterans from Insomniac, Harmonix and Turbine.
In other L.A.-area tech and startup news:
- Santa Monica online home-selling platform HomeLister has raised $10 million in a Series A led by M13 and Homebrew. HomeLister said its platform allows homeowners to quickly and easily sell their homes at an affordable and fair flat fee. Sellers can customize the level of control they have over selling their house with packages that range from basic for those who just want their home listed on the MLS, to a “platinum" package that provides real estate expert advice from staging to offer to contract. Founded in 2015, the company currently operates in 17 states with plans for continued expansion throughout 2022.
- Tyson 2.0, a cannabis brand formed with boxer Mike Tyson, has closed a $9 million Series A. The round was led by JW Asset Management. Additional investors in the round include K2, Ambria Capital, Tress Capital and Patrick Carroll. The announcement issued out of Orange County said the funds will be used to acquire more celebrity intellectual property, scale marketing efforts, accelerate distribution and further invest in the development of Tyson 2.0's brand strategy. Tyson 2.0, which launched late last year, is sold in 20 U.S. states and Canada.
StyleScan, led by founder and CEO Larissa Posner, has added another $1 million to its seed round.
StyleScan
- StyleScan, an L..A. developer of virtual-dressing technology for the fashion industry, has added $1 million in funding, bringing its total seed-round capital to $3 million. The company said the financing will propel the expansion of its e-commerce SaaS products, including the launch of new AI-driven products in the coming months. StyleScan’s clients include several luxury fashion companies, and it said several multibillion-dollar apparel companies have begun piloting its technology.
- L.A.'s Digiphy, a contextual marketing, commerce and traceability platform, has raised $1.5 million from Gaingels, M13, Builders & Backers, EYRIR Ventures and Sify Ventures, among others. Digiphy said it will use the funds to launch its new platform to help brands connect directly with their customers as they turn their product packages into interactive digital storytelling displays triggered by QR codes.
Lime is piloting a new vehicle, Citra, exclusively in Long Beach.
Lime
- Shared electric vehicle company Lime is piloting a new vehicle exclusively in Long Beach. The Citra is a fully motorized vehicle that the company said combines the seated comfort of a bike with the effortlessness of an e-scooter. Designed to go longer distances, the vehicle includes a throttle on the handlebars, which eliminates the need for pedaling. Citra also is the first vehicle from Lime that features dedicated storage space with a rear compartment for carrying groceries, backpacks or other items. The Citra pilot comes as Lime is conducting its largest-ever fleet upgrade in North America, rolling out its new Gen4 e-scooter across the Los Angeles area.
- Mission Cloud Services, a Los Angeles cloud-managed services provider, has acquired Dozen Software, a Nashville-based provider of software application development services, and Dozen Software CEO Chris Downs will become AppDev Practice lead at Mission. Financial terms weren’t disclosed. Mission said the acquisition adds to its Amazon Web Services expertise, as Dozen Software has used AWS for its software application development projects since its inception nearly a decade ago.
