Global Worldwide closes funding round led by Bitkraft Ventures in mobile manoeuvre
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Global Worldwide has closed an oversubscribed funding round led by Bitkraft Ventures.
With a scientific background, the company has been working in agriculture, pharmaceutical testing, materials science and more across its various divisions since inception in the 1940s. Now, it’s making mobile games.
The round also saw participation from Play Ventures, Icon Ventures and angel investor Jeremy Liew.
Mobile in the making
Global Worldwide chairman and CEO Will Harbin revealed the closing of the round on LinkedIn, though he hasn’t disclosed the amount of funding received.
“I’m excited to announce Global Worldwide has closed a round of financing led by Bitkraft Ventures (Scott Rupp) with aggressive participation from Play Ventures (Henric Suuronen), Icon Ventures (Joe Horowitz) and Jeremy Liew,” he posted.
Bitkraft Ventures founding general partner Scott Rupp is also a board member at Global Worldwide.
“We face different challenges and marketing is more expensive than ever. But, we’ve made our careers out of zigging when others zag and I’m not about to stop (as tempting as it is to chase the latest and greatest shiny object),” added Harbin.
“Despite having the best KPIs/unit economics of any product I’ve ever touched, this was a tough financing to pull off and speaks to the challenges many are facing. The funding landscape is rough if AI isn’t every third word of your deck.”
He also noted that industry friends advised him against VC funding. However, he suggested not all venture firms are the same – that some either gave no response or followed up “absurdly late”, but that he is “grateful that firms like Bitkraft Ventures and Play Ventures exist”.
“The life and path of a company isn’t always straightforward and doesn’t neatly fit within series X, Y, Z. Markets shift – they come, go, and can come back again,” he said.
Global Worldwide was also involved in medieval fantasy mobile game Kingdom Maker, developed in partnership with Scopely. Layoffs at the Kingdom Maker studio later took place in 2024.
