Circle Games raises $7.25M to build mobile puzzle titles

Circle Games announced today that it has closed a $7.25 million round of funding, which it plans to put towards developing its mobile games library. Bitkraft Ventures led the round, with a16z Speedrun, Play Ventures, e2vc, and APY Ventures participating. In addition to building out its first game, Sort Express, and developing its next titles, the company is also building out its team.

The Turkish studio includes team members who’ve previously worked at Gram Games, Dream Games and Good Job Games. Circle Games CEO Gokturk Balıkcı told GamesBeat in an interview, “We want to double down on our talent and scale our first title… The first focus area for Circle is the casual puzzle market, and we know players expect better visuals, better user experiences because the competition is really high compared with 10 years ago. The game should meet players’ expectation in terms of skill.”

With the funding, Circle Games plans to scale Sort Express globally with more content while also expanding its team, which currently has 12 people. Balıkcı added, “Turkey’s biggest hits are from the mobile puzzle genre, so the talent experience is there… We’re trying to innovate in the later game phase for player experience by introducing new mechanics. We think that will be vital for long-term player retention.”

Jasper Brand, Bitkraft Ventures partner, said in a statement, “Circle Games is one of the most promising studios we’ve seen at seed stage. They combine deep domain expertise with a strong game sense, fast shipping velocity, and a clear understanding of how to win in today’s mobile gaming market. With their innovation in progression systems, dynamic difficulty, and playable ad strategy, we believe they have all the ingredients to become Turkey’s next major casual gaming success.”