Agave Games, Turkey’s newest casual puzzle game studio, raises $7m seed round

AUG 11, 2022

BY BALDERTON

The round was led by Balderton - which also counts Turkish gaming unicorn Dream Games in its portfolio - with participation from Felix Capital and 500 Startups.

Founded earlier this year by four former high-school friends and now experienced mobile game developers, Agave Games is Turkey's newest casual puzzle game studio to watch.

Over the next 18 months, Agave is looking to triple its headcount as it develops its first market-leading casual puzzle game for IOS and Android. Agave is looking to hire top tier game developers and artists in Turkey to build an agile team where each employee has responsibility and autonomy over their own work. 

We have the opportunity to capitalise on our vast experience in the mobile gaming industry to create the most wide-spread and long-lasting casual puzzle game on the market.

Alper Oner, CEO and founder, Agave Games

Founded earlier this year in Istanbul by former high school friends and now experienced game developers - Alper Oner, Burak Kar, Baran Terzioglu and Oguzhan Merdivenli - Agave’s 12-strong team boasts a number of high-profile Turkish game developers who have worked in the casual puzzle genre for some time.

Julien Codorniou (Felix Capital), Rob Moffat (Balderton Capital) and Agave Games co-founders Burak Kar, Oguzhan Merdivenli, Alper Oner and Baran Terzioglu.

Kar was product manager at fellow Istanbul developer Good Job Games having previously been Head of Growth, while Merdivenli was studio lead at the same studio, where they helped create some of the fastest growing casual puzzle games, reaching over 2.5 billion installs worldwide through various titles.

Terzioglu meanwhile was Head of Growth at Fugo Games and played a key role in the development of a number of their biggest-selling casual mobile games including the most downloaded word game of all time, Words of Wonders. CEO Oner has taken a slightly different route. Following an Industrial Engineering and Operations Research Degree at UC Berkeley, Oner became an associate at PWC Strategy& before moving on to a Data Strategy Consultant role at Beghou Consulting.

When Balderton invests in games companies we focus on founders with experience building top games. What Alper, Oguzhan, Burak and Baran have achieved in the past is deeply impressive. We also love the strong bond that exists between these founders, from their school days together.

Rob Moffat, Partner at Balderton

Combining the team’s game, product and growth experience with Oner’s first-class management consulting experience means Agave are perfectly poised to make a big impact when they launch their first mobile game next year.

At Balderton we have been privileged to back some of the best mobile games companies such as Dream Games (makers of Royal Match the biggest new mobile game of 2021), Wooga, Big Fish, Mojiworks, Codemasters, and Natural Motion. We are excited to add Agave to this select group.

Rob Moffat, Partner at Balderton

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