Rogue Games receives $1.25 million investment from Grishin Robotics

Mobile developer Rogue Games has received a sizable investment from Bay Area venture capital firm Grishin Robotics. The $1.25 million boon, according to a press release, will “help Rogue Games continue to scale the company with new hires, launching games, and growing its portfolio.”

“We’re extremely excited to be partnering with Grishin Robotics alongside the innovative companies in their portfolio,” Rogue founder and CEO Mike DeLaet said in the release. “Grishin Robotics brings a talented and focused team with them to help us continue to grow Rogue to becoming the largest game publisher in the West.”

Grishin Robotics is currently allocating its second $100 million fund since its founding in 2012. The firm has its hands in a number of technology startups, including Zume, Yellow, Zipline, and Ring. Grishin is currently riding a wave of momentum after Ring, the e-doorbell company, was purchased by Amazon for $1 billion last month.

Other recent successes for Grishin investments include the sale of mesh router company Eero to Amazon last month, and Ford snatching up scooter company Spin in November.

The clout of Grishin’s portfolio is certainly an attractive prospect, especially for a studio as young as Rogue. The publisher was only formed in mid-2018, but it’s got decades of games industry experience backing it up. That experience likely lends itself to savvy business decisions, and Rogue saw a great opportunity in Grishin.

Likewise, Grishin seems to see potential in Rogue. “There are many market challenges game developers face outside of the game itself and Rogue has the deep, specialized knowledge to help it reach its full potential,” said Dmitry Grishin of Grishin Robotics. “We are thrilled to be partnering with Rogue Games as it continues its expansion of the business. This capital provides this talented team with the ability to rapidly grow the company.”

“Short term, we will be hiring an additional five people within the next two months to help accelerate our growth and developer support,” DeLaet told GameDaily. “We feel these roles are critical in improving KPIs in our upcoming games and in growing the company.” In addition, DeLaet said Rogue plans to improve player retention and monetization in all of its existing and upcoming games. “Working to help those games reach their full potential; as this is critical to our long-term success.”

DeLaet said his past relationship with Dmitry Grishin helped this investment come to fruition. “I’ve had the pleasure of working with Dmitry for about a year now and understanding his passion for gaming,” he said. “A lot of people do not know, but he started Mail.ru Group’s my.com game publishing label and has extensive experience in gaming.”

DeLaet is confident that Grishin’s investment will help Rogue grow and deliver quality mobile games. “This investment will accelerate Rogue’s ability to deliver very high-quality games to the market. Definitely be on the lookout this year as we ship some amazing games.”