VANCOUVER, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Phoenix Labs, an independent game studio committed to building shared gaming experiences, has raised a Series B financing round from prominent technology investors Sapphire Ventures, GGV, Ridge, Signia, Next Frontier, and MTGx. Phoenix Labs will leverage the funding to build upon the foundation of their debut PC title, Dauntless, and create a living and rapidly evolving online experience that will push the genre and industry forward. Currently in Closed Beta, the highly anticipated online co-op action role-playing game (RPG) will continue to scale its live service operations heading into the global Open Beta launch in 2018. Additionally, Phoenix Labs has expanded its development footprint with a new studio in San Mateo, California to continue building out its highly committed, creative and passionate team.
“Sapphire Ventures, GGV, Ridge and our other investors are helping us build the future of Phoenix Labs as we prepare Dauntless for its release into Open Beta worldwide later this year,” said Jesse Houston, co-founder and CEO of Phoenix Labs. “With this additional capital and the ongoing support from our passionate community, we are excited to usher in the next evolution of online action RPG experiences that will continue to expand and grow for years to come.”
Dauntless’ Closed Beta has had more than 850K passionate gamers sign up and more than 100K founding community members that have helped shape the game and slay 3 million Behemoths together. Most importantly, the Closed Beta has provided Phoenix Labs with valuable feedback and data to help pave the road for Dauntless’ global launch into Open Beta later this year.
“We were extraordinarily impressed with the team at Phoenix Labs, not only for their world-class and deep domain expertise, but for the unique and compelling way they approached the market opportunity in gaming,” said Dave Hartwig, managing partner, Sapphire Ventures. “The global market for gaming is growing exponentially, and Phoenix Labs has already seen tremendous success with Dauntless in the U.S. and abroad. We are excited to help this passionate team continue to grow their business and deliver compelling gaming experiences to their players.”
Phoenix Labs is made up of industry veterans from BioWare, Riot Games, and other acclaimed studios, helmed by co-founders Jesse Houston, Sean Bender and Robin Mayne. Dauntless is the next evolution of online co-op games. Set in an untamed science-fantasy world, players take on the role of elite warriors battling for humanity’s survival against ferocious Behemoths devouring the world’s energy.
About Phoenix Labs
Phoenix Labs is an independent game company based in Vancouver, British Columbia and San Mateo, California. The company was founded in 2014 to create games for its passionate community and evolve the way great games are made and enjoyed. They aspire to create new AAA gaming experiences that their community will share for years to come. Their debut title Dauntless, a co-op action RPG, is being created by a veteran team from BioWare, Riot Games, and other acclaimed studios. For more information on Phoenix Labs and open positions at both the Vancouver and San Mateo studios visit https://www.phoenixlabs.ca/.
