Form left: Jeremy Klarenbeek, Richard Whelan and Adam Dalton. Image: Jamango
Jamango was co-founded by Adam Dalton, who previously co-founded edtech platform Robotify that was acquired by a US company in 2021.
Irish gaming technology start-up Jamango has raised $2.5m in a pre-seed funding round co-led by Elkstone Partners and Delta Partners.
Founded by serial entrepreneurs Adam Dalton, Richard Whelan and Jeremy Klarenbeek, Jamango has developed a browser-based game creation platform the helps users instantly create and play user-generated games online.
It allows players to combine simple block-based building with a no-code editor, giving them a more accessible and immersive game creation experience.
Dalton, who previously co-founded edtech platform Robotify, said that his latest mission is to “empower the next generation of game creators”.
“We see a major opportunity to bring user-generated content to the browser at a time when the market is signalling a surge in demand for the browser game category. We’ve developed a proprietary engine that turns the creative process of building worlds and making games into a simple, fun and social experience that’s instantly accessible to anybody who has access to a web browser.”
Robotify, which spun-out of Dublin City University, was acquired by Imagine Learning, a major digital education provider in the US, in 2021.
Among the investors for Jamango’s funding round were Brian Caulfield (chair of Scale Ireland), Brendan O’Driscoll (vice-president of product at Figma) and Conor Sheahan (founder of CKS Finance) who joins Jamango as chair.
Elkstone partner Niall McEvoy said that the VC firm was delighted to support Dalton once again, having backed his previous start-up.
“The founders at Jamango have built a stellar team of industry experts to support their vision for the future of UGC browser led gaming engagement,” McEvoy said. “We look forward to supporting the team as they grow and scale this exciting business.”
Jamango will use the pre-seed funding to accelerate the development of its platform ahead of a planned launch later this year. Some of the people on the team have previously worked on popular game titles such as FIFA, The Sims, Star Wars Battlefront and Horizon. The start-up is also currently hiring.
“Inspired by platforms such as Roblox and games like Minecraft, we believe Jamango has a new unique proposition that their players and creators alike will love,” said Rich Barnwell, investor at Delta Partners and founder of Digit, which was acquired by Scopely.
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