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Backbone today announced it has raised $40 million in its latest round of funding. The company last year launched the Backbone One, its combination iPhone gaming controller peripheral and social platform.
The round was led by Index Ventures, with participation by Sound Ventures and Adjacent. Other investors include Sonos’ Patrick Spence, Discord’s Jason Citron, Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye, Kevin Hart, Richard “Post Malone” Post, Sean Combs, Amy Schumer, and others.
Damir Becirovic, partner at Index Ventures, said in a statement, “There are nearly three billion mobile gamers worldwide and counting. Backbone is transforming mobile gaming for these players by turning the phone into a console-like experience. Backbone has built a unified experience that makes it simple for gamers to find games, connect with their friends, and enjoy content in a deeper and more engaging way, which we believe represents the future of mobile gaming.”
The Backbone One launched in 2021, and its paired app works in conjunction with Apple Arcade, as well as several cloud gaming services. That includes Xbox Games Pass, GeForce Now, Stadia, and Amazon Luna, as well as PlayStation and Xbox remote play apps and Steam Link.
Maneet Khaira, Backbone CEO, told GamesBeat in a statement that he foresees the mobile gaming experience growing through remote play and cloud gaming. “Remote play has become a phenomenon on top of Backbone. It worked, but there wasn’t great input and software to educate the users on how to use remote play. Backbone helped fill that void. Backbone is becoming part of the Xbox and PlayStation ecosystem as an extension of the experience for core gamers.”
Khaira added in a statement, “Just as Sonos and Roku have done for music and television streaming, Backbone unifies all the game streaming services and core gaming experiences on mobile devices. This funding will be central to scaling the business, including recruiting new talent to fully realize Backbone’s potential. But more importantly, it will help us connect with, and better serve, gamers on a larger scale. This is just the beginning.”
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Author: Rachel Kaser
Source: Venturebeat
