Pokemon GO maker Niantic pockets$190Mn ahead of Harry Potter game launch

Niantic, a startup which makes mobile augmented reality (AR) games, has secured $190 million in a new Series C funding round, as revealed by the documents filed with the SEC.

Last month, the company was reported to be in talks for raising a $200 million funding round from IVP, aXiomatic Gaming, and Samsung at a valuation of around $3.9 billion.

In the latest funding round, 26 investors participated but the names of the investors were not disclosed. The company had previously raised $200 million back in November 2017, led by Spark Capital. With the latest close, the company has raised over $415 million till date from investors like Founders Fund, Spark Capital and Alsop Louie Partners, among others.

The new capital infusion for Niantic comes at a time when the company is gearing towards launching its next AR-based game titled ‘Harry Potter: Wizards Unite’. While the game’s launch date is not yet known, it is expected to launch later this year.

The upcoming game is based on the company’s Real World Platform, which offers a set of tools created for third-party developers that’s said to blend machine learning and computer vision. Using this, developers will be able to create their own useful and realistic AR experiences on mobile devices.