Gaming Investor Play Ventures Leads $1m Seed Funding in mod.io

Play Ventures, an early-stage gaming venture capital fund based in Singapore and Finland, has led the US$1-million seed funding round in mod.io, a cross-platform, user-generated content service designed for game studios.

In a statement, the firm said its cross-platform service allows game developers to enable user-generated content and modification with minimal development.

The service currently supports games with a C++ SDK and native plugins for Unity and Unreal, across eight different stores on PC, console, mobile, and VR.

The gaming startup plans to utilize its funding to expand its cross-platform support to include consoles, mobile, and VR, in addition to PC. The team also plans to expand its partnerships with game developers from independent and AAA studios alike.

In just 12 months, mod.io said it had delivered over 500,000 hours of unique content across 31 games, including MORDHAU, TABS, and Descenders. mod.io currently hosts over 82,000 mods, accessed by 100,000 daily active users, generating 22 million downloads.

Scott Reismanis and Patrick Sotirou, both veterans with a combined 30 years experience in UGC, founded mod.io. Before that, Reismanis launched ModDB, a database for creators to share game modifications, which reaches 4 million gamers monthly and has generated over half a billion downloads in its lifetime.

“Creating a constant flow of content updates is expensive and time-consuming for developers. mod.io helps them cut all that stress and cost away by tapping into the creative power of their players,” says Scott Reismanis, CEO.

He added that the platform is “win-win for developers, creators, and players because developers and creators benefit from an in-game UGC economy, and players stay engaged playing and creating mods for their favorite games.

The lead investor, Play Ventures, is the premium early-stage VC fund investing in gaming and gaming services startups around the world. It invests early into what it considers as most promising mobile and PC free-to-play games studios and games services startups that are looking for more than just money.

Recently, Australia-based global video creation platform Clipchamp Inc has launched its presence in the US after raising A$13.2 million (US$8.8 million) in its Series A funding round led by US-headquartered venture capital firm Tola Capital.