Company reporting good growth for new Petlandia product; relaunch of Moshi Monsters also planned.
Mind Candy has swerved potential bankruptcy, renegotiating a critical loan repayment and securing $1.5 million in new funding from existing investors.
Bloomberg reported that venture capital companies Accel Partners and LocalGlobe led the investment round, with participation from other existing investors.
Silicon Valley-based investment company TriplePoint Capital agreed to a two-year extension of the £6.5 million ($8.1 million) loan to Mind Candy. It had said in an earnings call back in March that it took a $2 million markdown on the value of the loan to account for the new terms.
Mind Candy had reported in October that, should it be unable to extend the loan terms, it may be forced into bankruptcy.
However, investors have been buoyed by a number of initiatives taking place at Mind Candy.
A new ceo, Ian Chambers, arrived in February 2016 following a restructure.
In an interview on Bloomberg, he said that Mind Candy has seen good growth from new product, Petlandia – this allows players to create avatars of their pets and order personalised storybooks featuring them.
Ian said that 650,000 people had created avatars in Q4 with about 40,000 of them ordering a personalised book.
He also noted that Mind Candy is looking at potential tie ups with other pet-focused products and brands, including celebrity pets with large social media followings.
Meanwhile, the relaunch of Moshi Monsters is underway, with the brand now focusing on the four to seven age group.
A new free to download Egg Hunt mobile game has apparently attracted 500,000 players, which lets players create a catalogue of different monster characters. There are also plans for personalised storybooks to be sold around these.
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