London-based VC focused on mobile, m8 Capital, is to invest in Austin, US mobile and social games publisher, Portalarium. m8 led the funding round with San Francisco-based Founders Fund. Today’s investment is undisclosed but we understand that it takes the total funding raised to date by Portalarium to $3.6 million. This is m8 Capital’s first investment in a US-based business after a year of European investments.
Portalarium develops mobile and social games, virtual worlds and related services to create what it says is an open ecosystem integrated into social networks and gaming communities. But there’s no product yet – that’s coming in the next few months.
Portalarium was launched by Richard Garriott, the well known game developer who sold his two previous companies. Origin, sold to Electronic Arts in 1992 and Destination Games sold to NCsoft in 2001. So this guy is no slouch. His Ultima Online game, launched in 1997 was the first commercially successful MMORPG and it’s still going strong today with Electronic Arts.
It’s also an interesting investment from Joseph Kim, General Partner of m8 Capital, who has previously invested in UK location-based startup Rummble. Portalarium is headed by CEO Fred Schmidt.