Hiro Capital Leads $15 Million of Games VC Investment Into Snowprint Studios, Double Loop Games and Happy Volcano Games
26.2.2021 11:55:00 EET | Business Wire | Press release
Three international video game studios are the latest investments for Hiro Capital, the entrepreneur-led Venture Capital fund focused on backing innovators in Video Games, the Metaverse, Esports and Digital Fitness.
The three mobile and cross-platform studios – Snowprint in Stockholm/Berlin, Double Loop Games in San Francisco and Happy Volcano in Belgium – will use Hiro’s investment to expand their development pipelines and accelerate global growth. They join UK and US Games studios Flavourworks, Polyarc and Lightfox in the Hiro Capital portfolio, alongside pioneers in the gamification of Games Streaming and Digital Fitness LIV.tv, Edgegap, FitXR and Nurvv.
Ian Livingstone, co-founding partner at Hiro Capital, said, "We are excited to begin 2021 by announcing Hiro's investment in three amazing games studios, Snowprint, Double Loop and Happy Volcano. Each studio has demonstrated innovation and expertise in developing fun to play games which resonate with today’s audiences. I’m especially pleased that one of the studios came through our first Dark Star™ event for emerging indies looking to scale their businesses. If only venture capital had been interested in the games sector back in the 1970s, I might not have had to sleep in a van during the early days of Games Workshop!"
Snowprint Studios was founded in 2015 in Stockholm, Sweden and has since grown with a second studio in Berlin. The team is led by industry veterans Alexander Ekvall and Patrik Lindegren, each formerly of King, John Hargelid, formerly of Paradox Interactive, and Wilhelm Osterberg, formerly of Wooga. Snowprint Studios operates their debut mobile title Legend of Solgard and is now also working on three new mobile projects, including Rivengard, a turn-based tactics game that launched globally on 21st January 2021, as well as an undisclosed AAA mobile IP coming soon out of its Berlin studio.
“We had heard great things about Hiro and have been impressed by the entire team from our very first interactions,” said Alexander Ekvall. “The team has a deep understanding of building successful games companies and this is reflected in the support they provide. The backing from Hiro means we are better equipped than ever to execute on our mission to deliver genre-defining experiences.”
Double Loop Games is a San Francisco-based social mobile game studio working on its debut title. The team is led by industry veterans Emily Greer, co-founder of Kongregate and Shelby Moledina, formerly of Warner Bros, Games and DeNA. Double Loop Games is now preparing to launch its exciting social mobile title, made for players who don't think of themselves as gamers.
"We've been thrilled with the level of insight the Hiro team brings to games and the games industry," said Emily Greer. "They immediately understood both the upside and the potential challenges around our more innovative mechanics. We look forward to a long and productive partnership with people that we know really get it."
The third investment is Happy Volcano , a new studio from Belgium that secured funding after attending Hiro Capital’s Dark Star™ VC investment summit for early stage Games studios. Last year, Happy Volcano released the critically acclaimed narrative exploration game The Almost Gone and are currently working on a new soon-to-launch cross-platform game You Suck at Parking.
“Teaming up with Hiro Capital means we can take the next step on our journey to become a leading creative game studio,” commented Jeroen Janssen, Founder and CEO at Happy Volcano. “Attending the Dark Star event in 2020 made it clear to us that Hiro brings a lot of value besides just funding. Knowing that an industry legend like Ian Livingstone is backing your vision gives the entire team confidence that we are on the right path.”
“The addition of these three exciting Games studios brings our total investments to 11, with more deals to be announced soon,” said Cherry Freeman, co-founding Partner at Hiro Capital. “At Hiro, our mission is to find talented, ambitious teams and help them grow by bringing expertise and capital. We invest in the innovators of the future, and I couldn’t think of a better start to 2021 than these three great studios.”
Luke Alvarez, Founding Partner of Hiro said: “Hiro was founded to invest in the super-sector of Games, Sports and Metaverse technologies. On every dimension, in every market, 2020/21 has been a story of strong growth - in users, sales, devices, stream views, and innovations. People fell in love, got married and graduated in games and are coming out of lockdown stronger thanks to gamified wearables and VR fitness tech. As a VC, it is exciting to see our sector focus so emphatically confirmed. Finally, Hiro is a diverse team and so are these new studios, including our first female Games founders, Emily and Shelby.”
Hiro Capital is looking for more ambitious Games entrepreneurs and will be launching the next Dark Star™ event for Games Studios in March 2021. Dark Star™ 2.0 will give Game studios looking for investment the chance to hear from Hiro Capital’s partners and portfolio entrepreneurs about how and why to position themselves for venture funding.
Hiro Capital: Investors in the Future
Hiro Capital is a London / Luxembourg technology Venture Capital fund which invests in UK, US and European innovators in Games, Metaverse Technology, Esports and Digital Fitness. Hiro Capital generally invests at the post-seed Series A and B stages. We invest both in front-end Content creators in Games, Esports and Digital Sports and in deep tech Metaverse applications of Cloud, Mobile, Streaming, Big Data, AI, Wearables, AR and VR technologies.
We back experienced entrepreneurial teams, building innovative technologies and content with a strongly differentiated proposition and with the scaling opportunity to become very large.
We are Games, Esports and Sports investors who are also Games, Esports and Sports entrepreneurs. We are entrepreneurs who back entrepreneurs. Our core belief is that Games, Esports and Digital Sports will be a central pillar of Entertainment, Economic and Social Life in the mid 21st century. We invest in the innovators who are building that future. https://hiro.capital/
- Ends -
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210226005025/en/
Contact information
Dean Barrett
dean@bastion.co.uk
+44 7802 898110
Antonella Scimemi
antonella@burlington.cc
+44 7530 815 018
About Business Wire
For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
European Wealth Firms Build Private Markets Capability Faster Than They Communicate It, Peregrine Report Finds20.10.2026 11:15:00 EEST | Press release
Europe's leading wealth managers have built genuine private markets capability but most have yet to explain it to the clients they built it for, according to The Wealth 30, a new report from Peregrine Communications. The study analyses how 30 leading UK and European wealth managers and private banks position private markets. It concludes that communication, not product, is now the biggest barrier to differentiation in the wealth channel. Capability outpaces explanation 73% of the Wealth 30 engage in private markets yet only 40% operate a dedicated landing page explaining what private markets are, why they matter and how clients can access them. Just 23% combine explainers, a destination and repeatable house-view content. Swiss private banks set the benchmark, supported by house views, outlooks and heritage narratives. Pictet, UBP, Lombard Odier and Julius Baer all back their positioning with repeatable insight content, and Coutts is the clearest UK example. UK firms more often communic
Infobip and Yamaha Power Conversational Customer Engagement in Indonesia’s Automotive Sector20.10.2026 11:00:00 EEST | Press release
Global AI-first cloud communications platform Infobip strengthens its collaboration with Yamaha Indonesia Motor Manufacturing (YIMM) to transform customer engagement through WhatsApp-powered conversational experiences designed to drive stronger personalization and faster customer interactions. As Indonesia’s consumers increasingly adopt digital-first purchasing behaviors, Yamaha Indonesia is evolving how it connects with customers across the buying journey. Today’s motorcycle buyers often research products through Yamaha’s social media, websites, and video reviews on YouTube before visiting dealerships, raising expectations for brands to deliver fast, seamless, and highly personalized communication. For more than two years, Infobip has supported Yamaha Indonesia in building connected customer engagement strategies that integrate WhatsApp across the company’s wider digital ecosystem, including its websites, social media platforms, and customer touchpoints. The collaboration reflects the
Finsei Selects Thredd to Power New Debit Offering20.10.2026 10:00:00 EEST | Press release
Thredd, the AI-first issuer processing platform, today announced a new partnership with Finsei, a London-based payments company, to power the processing infrastructure behind Finsei’s new Mastercard debit offering. The partnership reflects a shared focus on simplifying an increasingly complex payments environment. Businesses operating across markets often rely on multiple providers to manage accounts, payments, foreign exchange, cards and expenses. Finsei is designed to bring those capabilities together, while Thredd provides the underlying payment technology and infrastructure needed to deliver a secure, digital-first debit experience at scale. At launch, physical and virtual cards will be available, followed by both Apple Pay and Google Pay. “Businesses increasingly expect their financial tools to work together rather than operate as a collection of disconnected services,” said Jim McCarthy, CEO of Thredd. “Finsei is building around that expectation, bringing payments, currency manag
BRG Survey Finds 71% of Competition Lawyers Say Global Antitrust Policies Grew More Fragmented over Past Year20.10.2026 10:00:00 EEST | Press release
Global antitrust enforcement is pulling apart along national lines, with 71% of senior competition attorneys reporting that policy became more fragmented across jurisdictions over the past 12 months, according to BRG’s inaugural Global Antitrust & Competition Report. Nearly four in five (78%) also cite cross-border antitrust requirements as a significant or recurring challenge. The report draws on a survey of 155 senior antitrust and competition attorneys across the U.S., Europe and Asia-Pacific (APAC) and in-depth interviews with 18 leading lawyers. It also finds that about 60% of respondents expect antitrust enforcement to expand in scope and intensity over the next 12 months. “Domestic politics and geopolitical considerations increasingly influence the application of competition law across jurisdictions”, said David Parker, a managing director at BRG. “As a result, deal timelines and risk assessments often now have to be built jurisdiction by jurisdiction, from the earliest stage of
Murata Develops World’s Smallest 008004-inch Size (0.25mm × 0.125mm) NTC Thermistor for Space-Constrained Temperature Sensing20.10.2026 05:00:00 EEST | Press release
Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (TOKYO: 6981) (ISIN: JP3914400001) announces the development of the world’s smallest* 008004-inch size (0.25mm × 0.125mm) NTC thermistor, the NCU01 series. Compared with Murata’s previous smallest 01005-inch size (0.4mm × 0.2mm) product, the new series reduces mounting area by approximately 60% while achieving equivalent temperature-sensing performance, with resistance tolerance of ±1% and B-constant tolerance of ±1%. Its ultra-compact size enables temperature sensing to be positioned in increasingly restricted spaces and closer to heat-generating components, supporting more accurate and responsive thermal monitoring in smartphones, wearable devices, and other densely integrated electronic devices. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261019189089/en/ [Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd.] World’s smallest 008004-inch size (0.25mm × 0.125mm) NTC thermistor Murata plans to begin sample shipm
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom