Hiro Capital announced today that they have invested $6.4 million dollars into FRVR and Twin Suns Corp.
Hiro Capital is an investment firm with lots of skin in gaming and athletics technologies, with companies such as ZSwift under their belt, whose mission on Hiro Capital’s website reads “merging video games and real-world sports, Zwift operates a gamified fitness platform which transforms solo indoor cycling into dynamic social sports adventures.” With other companies such as FitXR and LIV focusing on VR experiences, there seems to be quite a bit of ambition behind the firm. This ambition is solidified with their latest investment into two new gaming-focused companies. Check out the details below.
Twin Suns Corp is a new AAA-game studio, founded by >20-year industry veterans. They are Tim Longo Jr. (Star Wars: Republic Commando, Halo, Tomb Raider), Forest Swartout Large (Hitman and Tomb Raider), and Jeff Morris (Gears of War and Unreal Tournament). Ian Livingstone, Partner, Hiro Capital, said, “I had the pleasure of working with Tim Longo on the Tomb Raider reboot before he went on to become Creative Director at 343 Industries to develop Halo 5. Tim is hugely talented and has assembled a fantastic team at Twin Suns. We are delighted to be partnering with Tim and his team and are incredibly excited by the potential of their creative vision and their ability to develop groundbreaking new titles in the AAA space.”
Hiro Capital is joined by veteran investor Ed Fries through his 1Up Fund to bring the founding investment into Twin Suns Corp. The legendary team will be working to build their own IP to help fuel first-person and third-person AAA action games. Already a team of fifteen experienced developers, Twin Suns Corp now accelerates its recruiting drive. Interested candidates can visit the Twin Suns Corp site for more information on open positions.
Tim Longo, Co-Founder and CEO, Twin Suns Corp, said “Forming this company and team is about bringing incredible people together to collaborate and make uniquely creative and amazing action games. Twin Suns Corp is literally a dream team of expert talent from across the planet and I can’t wait to work with all of them again.” The next company Hiro invested in is FRVR, a leading instant games ecosystem platform powering frictionless game play on any device, founded by Chris Benjaminsen (Yahoo, PlayerScale)) and Brian Meidell (Cape, GameAnalytics).
FRVR has developed an instant games technology platform that allows universal publishing of games on any platform, application or device, bringing the games to the players, anywhere they are already spending their time. Using frictionless technology to deliver a smooth experience, players can join games right away from inside their favourite social apps. FRVR supports a player ecosystem with billions of users worldwide, which enables game developers to launch new concepts across many channels, and get to global scale fast.
Luke Alvarez, Founding Partner of Hiro Capital said, “Brian and Chris are extremely smart and ambitious and the technology they have built for instant games is super-scaleable and inherently social. FRVR is live on some of the biggest platforms in the world. We are really excited to be working with them on the next stage of their journey to build a truly global leader.”
Hiro Capital joins Games industry legend David Helgason (Founder of Unity), Accel, Makers Fund and other leading investors in the FRVR journey.
FRVR founder, Brian Meidell said, “We are excited to work with Hiro due to their deep knowledge of the games industry and their expertise in quality content. Now that we have reached over a billion players, we are looking forward to level up our content and show the kind of deep experiences that are possible in these contexts.“
With these acquisitions, Hiro Capital is clearly moving itself into a position to make huge waves in the industry. A new AAA IP backed by industry veterans with a robust platform of distribution can be a powerful way to make a real name for whoever is involved. This makes Hiro Capital, Twin Suns Corp and FRVR all names to watch in the near future.
