Wargaming cofounder’s Mika Games raises $10m to back studios beyond soft launch
Mika Games, an investment company founded by Wargaming cofounder Nick Katselapov, has secured $10 million in a new funding round led by Flint Capital, announced October 21. The investment addresses a critical challenge in the mobile games industry: the “catch-22” where studios need proven marketing track records to access financing, yet require upfront capital to develop one.
The company’s investment model combines equity funding for game development with dedicated capital for paid user acquisition tests. By demonstrating successful user acquisition metrics, studios can qualify for additional financing—bridging the gap between pre-launch and commercial viability.
Mika Games currently backs a portfolio of five studios, including Legendale with over 3 million players and Punko with more than 500,000 players. The funding round comes amid significant industry headwinds: data cited by Mika shows that the number of games in the US top 1,000 by downloads fell by nearly half between 2020 and 2024, underscoring the increased difficulty for independent studios to achieve commercial success in an increasingly crowded market.