San Francisco-based augmented reality platform Niantic announced Tuesday that it raised $300 million in fresh financing. The Series D, led by Coatue, sent the company’s valuation skyrocketing to $9 billion.
Niantic took the world by storm in 2016 when the company collaborated with Nintendo to launch Pokémon Go. The mobile game pushes fans to leave their homes and hit the pavement in order to capture their favorite Pokémon. With Niantic’s AR tech, images of the creatures pop-up on the app’s camera making them appear to exist within a user’s natural environment.
Last month, the company partnered with Nintendo again to launch Pikmin Bloom. The app works with the same AR tech used in Pokémon Go but it’s a lot less competitive. With Pikmin Bloom, the tiny, flowery creatures of the same name appear to pop-up alongside you on your daily walks. At the end of the day, you can review the number of steps you took as well as the routes you walked and the photos you captured.
Once thought to be a passing fad, Pokémon Go has been on an upward growth trend since its launch. The game generated $1.3 billion in revenue from player spending in 2020, a rise of 41 percent year over year, according to Sensor Tower data.
“We’re building a future where the real world is overlaid with digital creations, entertainment and information, making it more magical, fun and informative,” John Hanke, founder and CEO of Niantic, said in a statement.
Niantic game players have walked a total of 10.9 billion miles since the company got its start in 2010, according to the company.
At the top of the month, Niantic launched a new tool for developers that wish to make their own contributions to the metaverse. The Lightship AR development kit brings together real-time mapping, topographic understanding and sharing capabilities for developers to use around the world. The cross-platform kit runs on both Android and iOS devices.
Niantic also recently announced the launch of its venture arm, Niantic Ventures. The $20 million fund was created with the intention to help identify and support global development leaders in the AR industry.
Moving forward, Niantic plans to heavily invest in the expansion of its team as well as its current games and new apps. The AR giant is now hiring for over 80 roles across its product, people and engineering teams, to name a few.
Niantic has raised $770 million in venture capital financing to date, according to Crunchbase.
