Gardens, a Los Angeles, CA-based provider of a globally-distributed game studio, raised $31.3M in Series A funding.
The round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Krafton, with participation from Dreamhaven, TIRTA, Rendered VC, Stephen “Slim” Lim, Nate Mitchell, Annie and Jeff Strain, Seth Sivak, V Pappas, Julien Merceron and Craig Kallman, Transcend Fund, and Funplus. Maria Park, Vice President and Head of Corporate Development at Krafton, and Moritz Baier-Lentz, Partner and Head of Gaming at Lightspeed Venture Partners, are joining Gardens’ board of directors.
The company intends to use the funds to scale up their team.
Led by CTO Lexie Dostal and game director Chris Bell, Gardens is a globally-distributed game studio founded by developers of Journey, What Remains of Edith Finch, Blaseball, Dustforce, Sky: Children of the Light, and more. It specializes in social play — online spaces that bring players together to form lasting relationships and their communities, offering new adventures far into the future.
Gardens prioritizes craftsmanship and sustainable development practices, with compensation packages and pay transparency, mentorship, and a continued commitment to diversify the voices within.
With this funding, the company also added former Microsoft Chairman John W. Thompson, former Sony Computer Entertainment America President and CEO Jack Tretton, former Tencent President and Take-Two CEO Ben Feder, and Yamauchi No.10 (Nintendo Family) to its advisory team.
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