A recent SEC filing has revealed that Humble Bundle -- the company that packages indie games together for charity -- has acquired $4.7 million in venture capital funding.
The funding round is led by Sequoia Capital, a reliable source has confirmed to Gamasutra. The VC firm has also funded gaming companies including Pocket Gems, GameGround and Unity Technologies.
Sequoia partner Alfred Lin is the only outside director listed in the SEC filing for the San Francisco-based Humble Bundle operation, CNN's Fortune noted in a report.
John Graham, co-founder of Humble Bundle and COO of Wolfire Games, did not immediately return request for further comment regarding details of the funding, and how it will be used.
Humble Bundle's business model as it stands relies on a “pay what you want” model. When purchasing a bundle of DRM-free games from the company, buyers set their own prices and determine exactly where those funds are allocated, be it to the game's original developers, charities, or the Humble Bundle itself.
According to its website, donations towards the Humble Bundle operation itself pay "for the bandwidth and development" of each promotion.
So far, Humble Bundle has launched three bundles since the initiative’s introduction last year. Revenues for the first two bundles – including all payments – exceeded $2 million across both bundles. The third bundle, launched in mid-April, has passed 150,000 in unit sales and $700,000 in total payments.
Games included in Humble Bundles include titles such as Frozenbyte’s Trine, 2D Boy’s World of Goo, Jonathan Blow’s Braid and other notable indie titles.
Interesting... not sure what this means though, the Humble Bundle doesn't need much resources to operate, and they're already highly profitable.
It would be very interesting if the Hundle Bundle guys teamed up with the Indie Fund to provide not only capital backing to select developers, but also an avenue for sales and exposure.
It's incredible that this massively successful initiative came out of the guys at Wolfire, here's hoping they also grow as a development studio instead of being overshadowed by this crazy awesome initiative.
I think that the biggest question this raises is how Sequoia's involvement will affect their business model. Sequoia is known for taking an active role in the companies it invests in to ensure that they get a good return. When they first backed Atari, part of the deal was that the founder of Sequoia got a seat on its board of directors.
If Sequoia takes a similar role in the Humble Bundle, will they be satisfied by the money that comes in from the "Humble Tip?" Will they keep the games DRM-free? Will they still allow you to give your entire donation to charity and not to them?
Hopefully Sequoia will recognize that these are some of the factors that led to the bundle's success. Still, venture capitalists don't invest in companies unless they think that they will make a significant amount of cash.
I think that such an investment suggests a change in business model. Can Humble Bundle Inc. be planning a full game store based on this model (pay what you want, donate, ...)?
It would be very interesting if the Hundle Bundle guys teamed up with the Indie Fund to provide not only capital backing to select developers, but also an avenue for sales and exposure.
It's incredible that this massively successful initiative came out of the guys at Wolfire, here's hoping they also grow as a development studio instead of being overshadowed by this crazy awesome initiative.
What is Sequoia Capital?. Well, virtually they own most of the Internet. They backed, created and/or purchased the next companies :
Apple, Aruba Networks, Google, YouTube, PayPal, Cisco Systems, Oracle, Electronic Arts, Yahoo!, NVIDIA, Navigenics, Cotendo, Atari, LinkedIn, Ameritox, Kayak, Meebo, Admob, Zappos.
If Sequoia takes a similar role in the Humble Bundle, will they be satisfied by the money that comes in from the "Humble Tip?" Will they keep the games DRM-free? Will they still allow you to give your entire donation to charity and not to them?
Hopefully Sequoia will recognize that these are some of the factors that led to the bundle's success. Still, venture capitalists don't invest in companies unless they think that they will make a significant amount of cash.
But somehow, investors are the opposite of Independence, I somehow don't feel like paying for their management bonuses.