Fig Publishing announced on Thursday it secured $7.84 million during a Series A Funding Round, which was led by Spark Capital and Greycroft with participation from Resolute Ventures, NextView Ventures, and Draft Ventures.
Fig, which was founded in 2015, allows accredited and non-accredited investors to participate in the success of video games through either rewards-based campaigns or by investing in shares tied to a game project securities, called Fig Game Shares. The shares notably pay returns based on the sales revenue of a single game, so investors get paid when a game launches, rather than having to wait for an exit if and when that occurs, which is the case with other crowdfunding platforms supporting investments in game studios. Justin Bailey, CEO of Fig, explained this past summer:
“The Fig model has never been done before. We’re building this to last, and to help evolve crowdfunding, so that fans have an opportunity to invest in us and receive a return from a successful game.”
Fig enlisted the assistance of Ellenoff, Grossman & Schole (EGS), a prominent Manhattan law firm to help manage the process. As previously reported, the firm represents many of the crowdfunding platforms operating in the US. It has also worked with many issuers raising capital online. Doug Ellenoff, who is Managing Partner of EGS, is considered one of the most recognizable figures in the U.S. crowdfunding industry. He is also one of the individuals who helped facilitate the change in regulations to empower investment crowdfunding.
While discussing Fig’s growth over the past year, Spark Capital General Partner, Nabeel Hyatt, shared:
“Fig is singular in video games in that it is the first to allow fan investors to participate in the upside of a video game’s financial performance. Investors on Fig don’t have to wait for a company to be sold before they can reap returns, an occurrence that is rare and can take 7 to 10 years.”
Jon Goldman, Venture Partner of Greycroft, also commented:
“Interactive Entertainment is a $100 billion-a-year industry yet many talented, veteran teams are still constrained by lack of resources. Fig provides a new avenue for funding that brings makers and players into an entirely new relationship, which should foster innovation and help this amazing creative industry grow even bigger.”
In regards to Fig’s future plans, Bailey added:
“Looking forward, we’re exploring the possibility of amplifying the impact of fans even further by inviting institutional investors who have already expressed interest in our unique model to provide matching funds across our platform.”
Fig stated it plans to use the funds from the investment round to accelerate the number of innovative game projects made available to investors and backers on its crowdfunding portal. The funding portal’s Series A funding round news comes just a couple weeks after Fig announced it hosted four of the year’s 10 largest crowdfunded games including Psychonauts 2, Wasteland 3, Jay and Silent Bob: Chronic Blunt Punch, Consortium: The Tower, Kingdoms and Castles, Make Sail, and Trackless. Last year, Fig had a 78% campaign success rate.
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