SEATTLE, Feb. 1, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — CVCapital is pleased to announce their role as the exclusive financial advisor to multiplatform content company Skybound Entertainment, home of franchises including The Walking Dead, Invincible, and Super Dinosaur, on its new funding round led by Com2uS, and first follow-on tranche by C Ventures and Third Wave Digital. Com2uS, a South Korean mobile and online game development and publishing company, became a minority investor in Skybound and will partner with the company for a future The Walking Dead mobile game. C Ventures and Third Wave Digital will support Skybound’s global expansion.
“Com2uS’ expertise in mobile free-to-play games make them an ideal production partner,” said Skybound Chairman Robert Kirkman, CEO David Alpert and Managing Partner Jon Goldman in a joint statement. “With tremendous support from C Ventures, Third Wave Digital, and Com2uS, we’re excited to work together to reach super fans in Asia and around the world with our existing and brand-new IPs.”
Skybound’s strategic partnership with their new investors will strengthen the companies’ capabilities to expand and develop IP in new platforms and locations around the world, a venture Skybound will continue to pursue globally.
“This collaboration with Skybound will be a good opportunity for Com2uS to expand its influence in the global market and create synergy between the two companies,” said Com2uS CEO Byung Joon Song. “We will continue to work together to create a product that people around the world can enjoy.”
“C Ventures’ holistic ecosystem and global network will fuel Skybound’s continuous growth,” said Co-Founding Partners of C Ventures Adrian Cheng and Clive Ng in a joint statement. “Skybound’s most notable IP The Walking Dead has a large fanbase globally. We’re pleased to be supporting Skybound to move forward with more exciting creator-owned works and continuing our work and investment with the fast growing Skybound.”
“The partners at Skybound understand how to leverage expertise, passion, and relationships to build stories that allure and engage their audience, which is why the company is of interest to Third Wave Digital,” said Third Wave Managing Director Allen DeBevoise. “We’re excited to see what is next from Skybound on the global scale.”
“CVCapital is excited to see the collaborations that come out of the pan-Pacific partnership between Skybound, Com2uS, C Ventures and Third Wave Digital. The funding round will further accelerate Skybound’s reach in bringing their stories and worlds to audiences globally,” said CVCapital Managing Director Jim Ying. “We’re glad we were able to play a role in bringing these leading companies together from the US and Asia.”
In 2017, Skybound and Com2uS announced a partnership to franchise Com2uS’ billion-dollar mobile RPG Summoners War, being led out of Skybound’s Vancouver-based sister company Skybound North and Wind Sun Sky. The companies are currently developing an animated television series based on the popular game, with Chris Wyatt and Kevin Burke (Super Dinosaur) attached to write and produce. In 2019 Summoners War: Friends & Rivals, a short film teasing the characters and animation style for the upcoming series, debuted on YouTube and has gained millions of views. Summoners War is in early development for additional projects across Skybound’s entertainment capabilities as well.
Accustomed to connecting creators and their content to new platforms and audiences, Skybound has seen success in franchising IP through the past ten years. Skybound is responsible for turning Robert Kirkman’s comic book series The Walking Dead into a multi-billion-dollar franchise through a television adaptation, two spinoff series on air with another premiering in 2020, numerous video games and merchandise, novels, and a movie currently in production. Kirkman’s comic book series Invincible is also in production for an animated television adaptation with Amazon and in development for a live-action film adaptation at Universal.
King & Spalding served as legal counsel to Skybound.
About CVCapital
CVCapital is a leading full-service investment banking firm for cross-border and Asia-focused M&A and strategic financing transactions. Headquartered in Shanghai, CVCapital has completed over 80 deals since 2015 with a total deal value close to USD$10 Billion and a focus on the Gaming and TMT sectors among five other sectors. The firm maintains global coverage with corporate offices in Hong Kong, Munich, Seattle, and Silicon Valley. Please visit cvcapital.com for more information.
About Com2uS:
Established in 1998 and headquartered in South Korea, Com2uS operates internationally with offices in the United States, Germany, Japan, Indonesia, Taiwan, China, Thailand and Vietnam, and became a subsidiary of GAMEVIL in 2013. The mission is simple. As a leading developer and publisher of mobile games, they thrive on creating games with a level of depth and engagement rarely experienced on mobile platforms.
Com2uS has a number of mobile games around the world, including Summoners War, Ace Fishing: Wild Catch and Golf Star. With over 100 million downloads and global sales of $1.8 billion, Summoners War is the #1 grossing game in 86 countries and in the top 10 in 137. The game’s RPG mobile sales is ranked first in 133 countries and continues to grow worldwide.
About Skybound Entertainment:
Skybound Entertainment is a multiplatform content company that world-builds across mediums including comics, television, film, tabletop and video games, books, and more. The company works closely with creators to bring their stories to a wider audience, while ensuring creators can maintain intellectual property rights and creative control. Skybound is the home of notable properties including The Walking Dead, Invincible, and Super Dinosaur. On screen, Skybound holds a first-look television deal with Amazon Studios and a first-look movie deal with Universal.
Also under the Skybound Entertainment umbrella is Skybound Games, the home of tabletop and videogames alike; an upcoming mobile narrative gaming venture in conjunction with Europe’s leading entertainment company Sky; GammaRay, a video-content brand focused on pop culture and presented by Skybound; and Skybound North, Skybound’s Canadian sister company. Skybound is also a partner in Skybound Galactic, a television studio with the capabilities to finance the development and production of scripted series.
About C Ventures:
Founded by Adrian Cheng, a globally well-known investor and entrepreneur, C Ventures is a leading venture capital company curating a cultural ecosystem targeting millennials and the Generation Z with a focus on business in technology, lifestyle and media. As a global venture capital, C Ventures is well positioned to integrate the West and the East and is committed to helping its portfolio companies with sustainable development both online and offline.
About Third Wave Ventures:
Allen DeBevoise started Third Wave in 2014, after more than 30 years of experience incubating and investing in digital media companies. He has invested in over 70 digital media companies and has co- founded several of the most important digital media brands including Machinima, StyleHaul, DanceOn, INDMusic, Mitu, and Tubular Labs. He was an early investor in AwesomenessTV, Tastemade, pocket.watch, 88rising, Zefr, Jukin, BeautyCon, Girl Boss, Hello Giggles, Wisecrack, Pluto.TV, Battlefy, Stem, Madefire, Merry Jane, VideoAmp, and the Drone Racing League.
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