DeNA to Buy Ngmoco for $403M

San Francisco-based iPhone game developer Ngmoco confirmed today on its blog that it will be acquired by DeNA, Japan’s largest maker of mobile games. DeNA said it would pay $403 million for the startup, making it one of the most lucrative exits ever for an iPhone app developer. Ngmoco said it would introduce a Western version of DeNA’s Mobage social games network, and that it also plans to release Android versions of its popular iOS games, such as Freeverse, Miraphonic, and Stump Town. Ngmoco had raised about $35 million in venture and angel financing from Floodgate Fund, Institutional Venture Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and Norwest Venture Partners, according to VentureWire. Another investor: Google Ventures, where the acquisition is an especially big deal, as it represents the Google fund’s first exit.

Author: Wade Roush

Between 2007 and 2014, I was a staff editor for Xconomy in Boston and San Francisco. Since 2008 I've been writing a weekly opinion/review column called VOX: The Voice of Xperience. (From 2008 to 2013 the column was known as World Wide Wade.) I've been writing about science and technology professionally since 1994. Before joining Xconomy in 2007, I was a staff member at MIT’s Technology Review from 2001 to 2006, serving as senior editor, San Francisco bureau chief, and executive editor of TechnologyReview.com. Before that, I was the Boston bureau reporter for Science, managing editor of supercomputing publications at NASA Ames Research Center, and Web editor at e-book pioneer NuvoMedia. I have a B.A. in the history of science from Harvard College and a PhD in the history and social study of science and technology from MIT. I've published articles in Science, Technology Review, IEEE Spectrum, Encyclopaedia Brittanica, Technology and Culture, Alaska Airlines Magazine, and World Business, and I've been a guest of NPR, CNN, CNBC, NECN, WGBH and the PBS NewsHour. I'm a frequent conference participant and enjoy opportunities to moderate panel discussions and on-stage chats. My personal site: waderoush.com My social media coordinates: Twitter: @wroush Facebook: facebook.com/wade.roush LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/waderoush Google+ : google.com/+WadeRoush YouTube: youtube.com/wroush1967 Flickr: flickr.com/photos/wroush/ Pinterest: pinterest.com/waderoush/