Closing Theory, a new mobile game developer, recently secured $2.3 million in funding money. As spotted by PocketGamer, the studio's co-founder Nitin Rajinikanth announced both the investment (and the studio's opening) last week on LinkedIn.
The funding was led by investment firm a16z, along with Powerhouse Capital, and Proletariat founder Seth Sivak. Powerhouse, as noted by Rajinikanth, has previously invested into mobile developers such as Playtika and Scopely.
According to Rajinikanth, Closing Theory was started with non-video game players in mind. He noted that the studio's debut titles, House Rush! and Neighborhood Rush!, are "for the 70 million-plus people who browse Zillow just for fun."
"We started Closing Theory because we believe there’s an opportunity for fun that’s closer to the world we live in," he continued. Real estate operators were listed among his studio's "strategic list" of consultants, further indicating the type of audience Closing Theory intends to court.
To drive his point home further, Rajinikanth pointed out that this studio (which he co-founded with Ankith Harathi) marks their third time "making a game for non-[game players]. We successfully sold the first two companies." The two previously founded mmhmmm in 2021 and Macro (which was eventually acquired by mmhmmm) in 2018.
I started a new company with @ankithharathi !
— Nitin Rajinikanth (@nitinrajini) July 19, 2023
We’ve raised $2.3M led by @a16zGames SPEEDRUN for Closing Theory Studios - a new, independent game studio.