Earlybird leads $5M investment round for emerging markets social gaming company Peak Games

Peak Games, the flourishing emerging markets social gaming company, today announced a $5 million Series-A investment to foster continued growth in some of the fastest-growing markets in the world including Turkey and MENA (Middle East North Africa). The round is led by Earlybird Venture Capital, one of Europe's most successful, early-stage technology investors.

The funding will enable Peak Games to execute on aggressive growth plans as the company solidifies its position as a global player in the expanding market for social games. Part of Peak Games’ success has been driven by how the company reaches underserved markets with localized and culturally-specific games that employ strong engagement and monetization strategies.

"The success Peak Games has had to date proves that the next big game genres on Facebook will offer culturally-relevant content and deliver a fully localized experience," said Jason Whitmire, partner at Earlybird Venture Capital. "We believe that this investment will support the company as it taps the rapidly-growing social gaming potential in emerging markets."

“We’ve driven phenomenal growth due to our understanding of what players want, reflecting the culture and tastes that make high growth regions like Turkey and MENA unique,” said Sidar Sahin, chief executive officer and founder of Peak Games. “With social media use exploding in markets such as Turkey, Brazil and the wider MENA region, we believe that the next big Facebook games will come from an emerging market. Thanks to this investment from Earlybird, Peak is well positioned to lead this second wave of social gaming growth.”

“Peak Games demonstrates that the social gaming market is truly a global one,” said Michael Pachter, analyst for Wedbush Morgan Securities. “Companies like Zynga and Nexon dominate in their markets because they fundamentally understand their customers and know how to create culturally-relevant content. I think Peak Games has done the same thing for Turkey and MENA and arguably already owns those markets.”

Peak Games, which was founded by Sidar Sahin, one of Turkey and the Middle East’s most prolific entrepreneurs and most respected gaming experts, counts some of the most successful entrepreneurs amongst its management team. Launched in October 2010, Peak Games has quickly established itself as the leading social gaming company in Turkey and MENA, catapulting to the position of 10th largest social gaming company globally by number of daily active users (DAU) (source: AppData.) Much of this rapid rise is due to Peak’s focus on games based on traditional Turkish and Arabic card and board games, as well as localized content showing a strong understanding of its audience.