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Advance, a private family-owned business that invests in media and technology companies, and existing backer , a consumer-focused investment firm, participated in the second tranche of the round.

Culver City, California-based , which is profitable, reached unicorn status with the first tranche of its series D. This extension gives the company a post-money valuation of $1.9 billion. With this extension, the company has raised a total of $658.7 million since its 2011 inception, according to .

Scopely, which has 800 employees working in five countries, has certainly seen impressive growth. The company saw a 72 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2014 to 2019. Plus, it reached more than “$1 billion in lifetime revenue” last summer.

In 2019, Scopely acquired , saw success with its game MARVEL Strike Force, and launched Scrabble® GO.

The company plans to use its new capital toward more mergers and acquisitions and expand  its portfolio of games across new genres.

“When we first announced our Series D funding late last year, a number of discussions with strategic partners who share our vision for the future of interactive entertainment were ongoing,” said , Scopely co-founder and Co-CEO, in a written statement.

In a announcing the extension, Driver and co-CEO said:

“Our global team, who is now working remotely to best protect their health and their families’ health, has truly rallied as one to continue serving our players and maintain the social connection and experiences they rely on from us. … We are acknowledging this additional financing, which has been in the works for several months and was completed earlier this year, as it was shared publicly by the FTC following regulatory approval this week.”

Investors weigh in

Janine Shelffo, chief strategy and development officer at Advance, said her firm has been closely watching the gaming industry and “identified Scopely as a rising force.”

“We are deeply impressed with its industry-leading technology platform and analytics capability, which it has leveraged to create a diverse portfolio of consistently successful games,” she continued.

, TCG’s co-founder and partner, said Scopely has consistently outperformed expectations since his firm first backed the company nine years ago.

“As the traditional media industry continues to go through unprecedented change, we believe that Scopely has all the ingredients for tremendous success—exposure to games (the fastest-growing sector in media), a scalable and durable technology platform, a diversified set of well-known IP, an attractive economic profile and a team hyper-focused on execution and long-term success,” Jacobs continued.

If it’s making so much money, why the large raises? Managing Partner told me last October that the M&A space in gaming was heating up.

“There’s a lot of interesting companies and assets that they can acquire and incorporate into the broad Scopely platform,” he said.

Scopely does have a good track record. According to Viswanathan, it’s produced six games in a row that are on track to reach or surpass $100 million in gross lifetime revenue, which he said “is pretty astounding.”

“Gaming is a massive market, worth over $130 billion, and mobile gaming is the fastest-growing piece of it, representing about half,” Viswanathan told me last October. “In Scopely, we see significant scale, growth and profitability–an unusual trifecta. We see a huge market opportunity in front of them.”

NewView of , aka New Enterprise Associates, in late 2018, raising $1.35 billion for its debut fund. NEA had a small position in Scopely and NewView brought that over when it broke out.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Gaming may not be taken seriously by all. But if this round is any indication, maybe it should be.

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’ Kia Kokalitcheva.

led the equity financing, which included participation from new investors and (the global investments and partnerships arm of The Times Group of India). Existing backers , and also pitched in.

The Series C round brings Santa Monica, Calif.-based Headspace’s since its inception in 2010 (was it really founded a decade ago?!) to $168.2 million, according to Crunchbase data. The company declined to disclose at what valuation the latest round was raised. It closed on a $36.7 million in June 2017.

To rise above the hype around meditation, Headspace claims to be “the most science-backed digital mindfulness product in the market.” As an example of that, the company says it’s currently in progress on over 70 clinical research studies with institutions such as and .

Over the years, it’s branched out from its consumer app into different product lines including “Headspace for Work,” its B2B segment that counts , , and among its 600 enterprise customers. It’s also offering “Headspace Health,” an effort to integrate mindfulness into health care. In general, the company says its goal is to help its users apply mindfulness to improve their health via content around stress, anxiety, sleep and focus, among other things.

Growth

Since its founding, Headspace said it has experienced over 62 million downloads in 190 countries and has more than 2 million paid subscribers.

In addition to growing its direct-to-consumer business,Headspace says it will continue to invest in its Headspace for Work segment, which has seen its revenue double year over year from 2017 to 2018 and most recently in 2019. It also plans to continue putting money into its health care segment. I’ve reached out for more specifics regarding its financials and will update this piece if I get them.

In 2019, the company launched localized versions of the app in French and German, and appointed former executive as head of its European division to lead expansion in that region. Also last year, Headspace launched in Latin American Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese. It expanded into Asia through strategic relationships with partners such as The Times of India. The company plans to use its new capital in part to continue expanding internationally.

Investors talk

, founding partner of blisce/ said, Headspace’s aim with its offerings “resonates deeply with blisce/’s core belief that it is possible to both ‘Do Good’ while also building a strong business with sustainable growth.”

, CEO of of India, notes that Headspace co-founder began his mindfulness journey as a monk in India, and as such, he is “excited to bring things full circle through” a strategic partnership.

Of course, Headspace is not alone in the meditation app space. Last February, announced the close of an $88 million Series B round that propelled it into unicorn status with a $1 billion valuation. In July, it announced a $27 million extension to that round.

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