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One of the most popular mobile football games in the world has raised another PS1m from Mercia Equity Finance. Mercia manages the funds and it is part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund and Mercia’s own funds.
Invincibles Studio will launch two new football action games with this latest investment. Soccer Manager allows players to create their dream team using over 25,000 licensed FIFPRO players. They can then watch their teams engage in realistic match action.
Over 50 million people have registered to the game, from all over the globe. Mikel Arteta, Arsenal manager, is the game’s global ambassador. The club also has partnerships with Inter Milan FC and Wolverhampton Wanderers FC, as well as the German league DFL and the Scottish Premier League.
Invincibles was established in Preston by brothers Chris, Steven, and Andy Gore along with their friend Peter Adams in 2004. Mercia invested its first money in 2014 The business received its first investment from Mercia in 2014. In the last two years, the company has doubled its revenues and continues to grow its management team.
Invincibles now has Chris Gore, Max Lowe, CFO, and COO as CEO. Johnny Coghlan, who was responsible for the launch and development of popular mobile games such as Angry Birds, Cut The Rope, and Cut The Rope, is its CMO. Nick Wheelwright is the chairperson. He was previously CEO of Codemasters, and founder of Playground Games which was purchased by Microsoft. Invincibles has more than 55 employees in Preston and Leeds.
Chris Gore, CEO: “Our vision was to create Soccer Manager, a truly immersive and free-to-play game that features real players.” We have been able to improve it over the years thanks to the support of our investors and attracted a worldwide audience. After two years of solid growth, we are thrilled to announce two new football games.
Julian Viggars from Mercia said: “The games industry is one of fastest growing worldwide, and Invincibles have become one of most respected independent football games studios in that market.” This latest investment, which follows the success of Soccer Manager worldwide, will allow the studio to grow its reputation and reach a wider audience through the launch of new games.
British Business Bank’s Sean Hutchinson stated that the games market is growing at an incredible pace, with companies finding new ways to market and develop different options, as well as keeping users interested. Invincibles is a well-known name in the space. It’s clear that it has used funding at every stage of its growth to be one of the UK’s most innovative game creators.
The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund is financially supported by the European Union through funding from the European Regional Development Fund, (ERDF), as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-202020 and the European Investment Bank.
