Kobojo raises $7.7M for social gaming

The European social game publisher gets support from Endeavor Vision and IDinvest Partners

European social gaming company and software editor Kobojo announced Tuesday that it has secured $7.7 million (€5.3 million) in a round of funding led by Endeavor Vision, with help from IDinvest Partners.

Founded in 2008, the Paris-based company is best known for its casual games and gaming apps, such as GooBox, PyramidVille, Robotz, and Docteur Love. Currently, the games are only available on Facebook and iPhone, but the company hopes to expand to other OS platforms (presumably Android), as well as tablets.

Kobojo plans to use the new funds to step up its game (ha, ha) in France and expand internationally, with a particular emphasis on localizing versions of the games for specific markets, particularly in Spain and Italy. Additionally, the company will use the new capital to throw itself into research and development to roll out functionality with other smartphone and social networking platforms.

“Kobojo is one of the best social gaming start-ups active in Europe,” said Dominique Pitteloud, Senior Investment Director at Endeavour Vision, in a statement. “Kobojo has demonstrated a unique ability to develop and publish games with deep game-play mechanics and social interaction. We are thrilled [to have] the opportunity to support the development of the company and are convinced [of] Kobojo’s ability to become the leading social game company in Europe.”

Kobojo currently ranks as the 85^th most active developer on Facebook with 3.1 million monthly active users, according to AppData. The company maintains 15 apps on Facebook, but its most popular is PyramidVille, with 1.2 million monthly active users.

The company’s European expansion could promise some big numbers in the near future. The UK takes the lead with 28 million casual gamers in 2010, compared to 27 million in Germany and 23 million in France. Germany, however, has jumped ahead of the UK and France in terms of total game spend, with €4.9 billion spent on games in 2010.

By comparison, the U.S. had some 141 million casual gamers in 2010 and spent a whopping $24 billion on games last year. 

Image source: Kobojo.com