Fortnite maker Epic Games raises a massive $1.78 billion in new funding
Nickie Louise
Posted On August 6, 2020
We wrote about Epic Games back in July after Sony Corp. invested $250 million in the creator of the popular video game Fortnite and the mobile app Houseparty. The investment valued the Cary, North Carolina-based Epic Games at about $17 billion.
Today, Epic Games announced it has raised a whopping $1.78 billion round of funding consisting of primary capital and secondary purchases from employee equity holders. The round includes a previously announced $250 million strategic investment from Sony Corporation we told you about in July.
Additional investment partners include Baillie Gifford, funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, Fidelity Management & Research Company LLC, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., and David Tepper. The new funding puts Epic’s post-money equity valuation at $17.3 billion.
According to the public release, Epic will continue to have only a single class of common stock outstanding and will remain controlled by its founder and CEO, Tim Sweeney.
Founded in 1991 by Mark Rein and Tim Sweeney, Epic operates Fortnite, one of the world’s largest games with over 350 million accounts and 2.5 billion friend connections. Epic also develops Unreal Engine, which powers the world’s leading games and is also adopted across industries such as film and television, architecture, automotive, manufacturing, and simulation. Through Unreal Engine, Epic Games Store, and Epic Online Services, Epic provides an end-to-end digital ecosystem for developers and creators to build, distribute, and operate games and other content.
“Having the support of leaders in the financial community accelerates Epic’s efforts to build a new kind of digital ecosystem using real-time 3D technology, services that connect hundreds of millions of people, and a digital storefront that offers a fair business model. We are delighted to have them as part of the Epic family,” said Sweeney.
