Two major forces in the board game industry, Ravensburger and Gamefound, have joined forces

Ravensburger and Gamefound, two of the board game industries’ major forces, have teamed up in hopes of using their expertise to elevate both the board game industry and the crowdfunding market. You can read their full press release below:

Set to Disrupt the Status Quo, Gamefound Signs $4.5 Million USD Investment Deal with Renowned Board Game Publisher

WROCLAW, Poland (February 10, 2022) – Today, global toy and game company Ravensburger AG announces an investment and partnership with Gamefound – the crowdfunding platform dedicated to board games. By board gamers, for board gamers, Gamefound is designed for the tabletop community and provides creators with resources and dedicated tools and solutions to help fully realize their board game ideas. The crowdfunding platform was soft launched as a spin-off from board game publisher Awaken Realms in 2021 and has shown early success, generating over $22 million USD in total funding for all hosted campaigns. Ravensburger will partner with Awaken Realms and support Gamefound as an investor and strategic partner to fully realize its potential in the games space.

“Crowdfunding can be an amazing tool for creating amazing Board Games and partnering with a respected industry leader like Ravensburger will help us create the best environment for backers and creators,” said Marcin Świerkot, CEO of Gamefound and Awaken Realms. “This investment will enable the Gamefound team to quickly grow and develop new functions bringing the platform to the next level. We are extremely excited to start working with our community on the future of crowdfunding.”

Ravensburger, who comes on-board as a trusted strategic partner and investor, will lend industry expertise to Gamefound’s growing community and play a role in continuing to develop the platform’s tools and offerings. Gamefound is the first investment from Ravensburger’s recently announced “Next Ventures” program, which aims to fund innovation projects and start-ups, which have a direct link to Ravensburger core business segments including games, toys and puzzles.

“Ravensburger evaluates over 1,000 game ideas a year. We can ultimately publish only a handful of these games on our own, but hundreds more are concepts we know board game fans would really love,” said Filip Francke, Ravensburger Global Head of Games. “Gamefound makes it easier for all creators to produce the games of their dreams and we’re excited to support a platform that will help deliver even more game experiences to tabletop fans around the world.”

Gamefound started as a spin-off subsidiary of Awaken Realms, one of the biggest board game publishers in the crowdfunding space with hits like Nemesis, Tainted Grail or ISS Vanguard. The platform offers more than the ability to raise money. It provides useful tools to help creators both manage their campaigns and deliver the final games to their backers. Boardgame designers are already finding success on Gamefound, with recent campaign successes including ISS Vanguard (almost $5 million USD in funding), Too Many Bones: Unbreakable ($3.4 million USD in funding) and Robinson Crusoe Collector’s Edition (over $2.6 million USD in funding.)

Gamefound is entering the global board game market at a great time, as the industry has seen tremendous growth over the last decade. In the last few years, board game leaders such as Ravensburger had been seeing double digit growth in their business. In 2020, driven by a surge of interest in the category throughout the pandemic, that growth accelerated to over 50% in the U.S. alone. Known for offering quality gameplay experiences to a wide audience, Ravensburger looks to continue growing consumer interest in board games through their involvement with Gamefound.

More information about Gamefound can be found at https://gamefound.com/

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