Game Maker Niantic Scores $300 Million Funding From Coatue

<p><strong>SAN FRANCISCO<&sol;strong> &&num;8212&semi; Niantic Inc&period;&comma; a game maker best known for Pokemon Go and developer of the world’s first and only planet-scale AR platform&comma; announced that Coatue has made a &dollar;300 million investment in the company at a valuation of &dollar;9 billion&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Niantic will use the funds to invest in current games and new apps&comma; expand the Lightship developer platform&comma; and build out its vision for the Real-World Metaverse&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We’re building a future where the real world is overlaid with digital creations&comma; entertainment and information&comma; making it more magical&comma; fun and informative&comma;” said John Hanke&comma; Niantic’s Founder and CEO&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;This will take a significant investment of talent&comma; technology and imagination&comma; and we’re thrilled that Coatue is on this journey with us&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Niantic is building a platform for AR based on a 3D map of the world that we believe will play a critical role in the next transition in computing&comma;” said Matt Mazzeo&comma; a General Partner at Coatue&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We are excited to partner with Niantic because we see this infrastructure supporting a metaverse for the real world and helping to power the next evolution of the internet&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Earlier this month&comma; Niantic <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;nianticlabs&period;com&sol;blog&sol;lightshiplaunch&sol;">launched<&sol;a> the Lightship platform&comma; enabling developers across the world to realize their visions for augmented reality and the Real-World Metaverse&period; The Lightship Platform is the foundation for Niantic’s own products&comma; built on years of experience developing and running titles such as Ingress Prime and Pokémon GO&period; Our launch partners included Coachella&comma; Historic Royal Palaces&comma; Lifull&comma; the PGA of America&comma; Science Museum Group&comma; Shueisha&comma; SoftBank&comma; the artist JR and Superblue&comma; TRIPP&comma; Universal Pictures&comma; and Warner Music Group&period; Niantic also announced Niantic Ventures&comma; a &dollar;20 million fund to help identify and fund the AR leaders of tomorrow&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Niantic’s mission is to inspire people to explore the world&comma; together&period; Tens of millions of people play Niantic’s games each month&comma; including Pokémon GO and Ingress&period; Over the years&comma; game players have walked more than 17&period;5 billion kilometers &lpar;10&period;9 billion miles&rpar;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Last month&comma; Niantic and Nintendo <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;nianticlabs&period;com&sol;blog&sol;pikminbloom&sol;&quest;hl&equals;en">launched<&sol;a> Pikmin Bloom&comma; a smartphone app designed to bring a little joy to everyday journeys on foot&period; Pikmin Bloom spices up your daily walks with the help of an adorable yet mischievous squad of Pikmin&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;