Pokemon Go creator Niantic raises $245 million at $4 billion valuation

[January 16, 2019]  (Reuters) - Pokemon Go creator Niantic Inc said on Wednesday it had raised $245 million in a new round of financing bringing its valuation to nearly $4 billion.

The Series C financing round was led by IVP with additional strategic investments from aXiomatic Gaming, Battery Ventures, Causeway Media Partners, CRV, and Samsung Ventures, the company said.

Niantic and Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment said in November they would launch a new "Harry Potter" augmented reality mobile game.

The game would use real-life locations similar to Niantic and Nintendo Co Ltd's Pokemon Go, which became the first mass market adoption of augmented reality in July 2016 and allowed players to "catch" animated characters that appeared in their surroundings.

"It's a rare opportunity to partner up with a company that is already highly profitable at this stage, which is another reason we are so bullish on Niantic," IVP's Sandy Miller said.

Niantic was spun off from Google in 2015 and is headed by longtime Google executive John Hanke.

(Reporting by Arjun Panchadar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)

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