Jagex Secures New Funding To 'Accelerate Growth'

Jagex, developer and publisher of RuneScape, has received an unspecified amount of funding from new backers Spectrum Equity Investors and The Raine Group, and return investor Insight Venture Partners. The British firm says this new investment will enable it to "accelerate growth of its development and publishing capabilities", supporting the continued development of its titles. Jagex currently has more than 400 employees spread across three offices -- two in Cambridge (including its headquarters) and one in London. Last April, Jagex revealed that its flagship product, free-to-play MMORPG RuneScape, generated £38.4 million ($61.7 million) in revenues and £18 million ($28.9 million) in profits during the March 2008 to March 2009 period, mostly from optional subscriptions. At the time, the game had one million subscribers out of 10 million users. With this new backing, Spectrum Equity's Chris Mitchell and Jim Quagliaroli will join Jagex's board of directors, as will The Raine Group's John Salter and Brandon Gardner. Insight Venture Partners' Jeff Horing and Alex Crisses are both already on the publisher's board and will continue to serve there. "Insight has been part of the Jagex family for a number of years and it has been a real pleasure to serve alongside them on the Jagex board," says Jagex's CEO Mark Gerhard. "Both Spectrum and Raine bring a wealth of expertise and it gives me great delight to be able to welcome them to the Jagex team." He continues, "This investment will hugely benefit both the Jagex team and our loyal community and I'm confident that Jagex will continue to go from strength to strength. I fully expect that the collective experience of the shareholder base will be highly advantageous as we embark on our next chapter of growth."