mocoNews - IPhone Games Publisher Ngmoco Raises $10 Million In Second Round

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Dianne See Morrison

mocoNews.net
Monday, March 23, 2009; 1:00 PM

Ngmoco, the games publisher dedicated solely to the iPhone, has raised $10 million in a second round of funding, according to venturebeat.com. The funding, led by Norwest Venture Partners, comes just nine months after the start-up was founded, and adds to the first round of $5 million that it raised from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers's iFund, its iPhone dedicated fund, and Maples Investments. Both investors joined the second round, and Norwest's Tim Chang joins ngmoco's board.

Ngmoco was founded by ex Electronics Arts executive Neil Young last July and launched its first iPhone game in October. It has a total of seven games in the App Store right now that have been installed more than 7 million times, and plans to release new games at the rate of one to two per month. According to venturebeat.com, ngmoco will use the funding to expand the company's line of premium products, add or acquire development talent and games, and invest in its game's networking platform. It also plans to launch Touch Pets, its virtual pet game, that will allow people to buy virtual goods for their pet. Virtual purchases on the App Store was one of the new improvements to come out of the iPhone 3.0 upgrade which will be released in the summer.