Israeli venture raises $14 million

Our readers will recall the news earlier this year that Israeli social gaming start-up Dragonplay was to seek venture capital to progress its internet business aspirations, and we can now report that it has been successful, raising $14 million, according to a report in Digital Media Wire.

The free-to-play social games developer has been successful in its Series A funding led by Accel Partners, with participation by Founder Collective and Entrée Capital.

Adam Valkin, partner at Accel Partners, has joined the company’s board of directors.

Dragonplay’s Live Holdem Poker Pro is already well established, attracting around 2 million players a month, and the new capital will be used to expand its portfolio of Android and Facebook games, launch on new platforms including iOS, and grow its team and game development capacity. It may also consider studio acquisitions.

Headquartered in Tel Aviv, Dragonplay was founded in 2010 by Sharon Tal and was one of the first social gaming companies to focus on Android. Its most recent games, released in 2011, are Live BlackJack, Farm Slots and Sea Battle in 2011.

“Dragonplay benefits directly from the spectacular growth of Android (estimated at more than 800,000 new activations per day), the emergence of smartphones as a primary gaming platform and the impressive growth of the virtual goods market,” Valkin told DMW this week.

“This together with Dragonplay’s cross-platform approach and the team’s excellent performance to date suggests that the company is well positioned to continue its rapid growth.”

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