The social gaming Gold Rush continues, and not all of the money is flowing into the pockets of Zynga, the biggest social game company on Facebook. Kabam, which has built its business in a very un-Zynga way, is announcing today it has raised $30 million in a third round of funding to develop social games and make acquisitions.
Kabam makes massively multiplayer strategy games for hardcore gamers who play on Facebook. Altogether, Kabam has 7.4 million monthly active users on Facebook. That’s not huge compared to Zynga’s 299 million users, but it’s a big number considering the fact that most people believe hardcore audiences don’t exist on Facebook.
The company’s ability to raise a big round from investors such as Redpoint Ventures and Intel Capital shows that social gaming is still hot as a start-up investment, even though many of its biggest winners, such as Zynga, are consolidating their hold on the market. But now the investments are moving into market niches where there is less competition from the big players.
“Our vision is to create massively multiplayer social games,” said Kevin Chou, co-founder and chief executive of Kabam, in an interview. “We cater to hardcore gamers who are trying out Facebook and want to play games with their friends on it. This funding round is a validation of our strategy to stand out.”
