That is to say, play some Angry Birds, one of an elite class of super-popular mobile apps, to take your mind off things. Your worries will melt away.
Right now Angry Birds creator Rovio has something to be happy about, too. An investment to the tune of $42 million, to be exact. The Finnish mobile software developer apparently caught the eyes of a few key individuals, including Skype founder Niklas Zennstrom. Seen in the press release on NY Times, the funding round is co-led by Accel Partners and Atomico Ventures (co-founded by Zennstrom), with Felicis Ventures participating. This move will place Zennstrom on Rovio’s board. He stated, “Angry Birds is one of the fastest-growing online products I’ve seen, growing even faster than Skype, and the company has done a brilliant job of extending it across different platforms and merchandise.”
It’s true. The Angry Birds phenomenon does not stop at the app; sales of the series’ plush toys have crested 2 million units, according to TechCrunch. But Rovio is anxious to utilize this funding to delve into markets yet untapped. CEO Mikael Hed has expressed interest in international expansion, as well as pushing the series into new platforms, particularly video game consoles.
So while Angry Birds continues to soar, Rovio will certainly enjoy this new capital in the process of growing its empire. For a neat little video about how Angry Birds became such a hit, you may want to check this out at GigaOM.
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Tags: Angry Birds, video games
