<aside> 🧙 When thinking about which VCs to approach, knowing their focus and investment style is important to avoid wasting time, better position the pitch and find the best fit.

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You can think about VCs by their investment style in 3 ways:

• Thematic: invest in one industry broadly. Gaming VC funds typically fall into this category as gaming is the theme. This can sometimes be described as digital or interactive entertainment, media, creators, and content.
• Thesis-driven: directional bets in one or across multiple industries tied together by an overarching framework e.g. user experience, social, networks, etc. Can be gaming only, but often includes others.
• Generalist: invest in multiple industries with coverage teams e.g. consumer, fintech, SaaS. Some generalists with a big consumer focus will look at games. More typical with larger funds. Some generalists highlight games specifically.

Thematic: Look for gaming VCs that share your vision and have relevant domain expertise

Gaming VCs are much more likely to invest in content/game studios, however they are a tiny subset of the 10,000+ VCs out there. Check their team’s LinkedIn profiles and see what experience they have. They tend to have teams with ex-operators from the gaming industry, speak the same language, will get up to speed quickly, with a deep gaming industry network. Some will have sub areas of focus / specialty, e.g. by platform, by business model. Check their investments on their website to see what kind of game companies they tend to invest in. Gaming VCs will require less selling on the market and may have predetermined theses that allow them to move quickly (to a yes or no, it goes both ways!).

Thesis-driven: Look for a thesis that touches gaming aspects e.g. interactive content

Thesis driven investors can offer specialisation similar to gaming VCs, especially when their thesis directly benefits from gaming innovations or trends. An example could be a broad directional bet on 3D interactive experiences, but can be very specific like augmented reality. Theses can come in many combinations and can span a certain geography, business model, technology, interaction modality, platform, design approach etc. As a gaming founder, try to pattern match where your company is innovating.

Generalist: Look for generalists that highlight gaming with a dedicated team member

Generalist VCs can offer unique insights from other industries and may have an angle that others don’t. This is especially true if the pitching company overlaps (or has the potential to) with adjacent industries or business models. They’re typically larger so can also pull on company building resources (e.g. an in-house hiring partner). However, they may require more education on the market opportunity, and you want to make sure they’re serious about the industry to avoid wasting time. There are generalists that actively invest in gaming with a dedicated team, offering a combination of both worlds.

Other aspects to consider

• Stage: do they specialise in certain stages (e.g. Seed) or do they invest across multiple stages Specialisation can offer better support/advice/expertise, but multistage investors can offer follow on funding.
• Lead: do they prefer to lead, follow or both? The lead investor will be your main partner, sets the terms of the rounds and typically will be your biggest investor.
• Check size: how much do they typically invest? Depending on how much money you need to deliver on your plan, this will determine if they’re able to lead, follow or even be interested.
• Corporate VCs: some VCs are an arm of a big company. They can leverage strategic resources (e.g. a platform, partnerships, technology, distribution) that might be advantageous. However, they tend to move more slowly with longer approval cycles and may introduce competitive considerations.

My advice there for entrepreneurs in general is think super carefully about really creative, smart sources of funding at different times. This is no longer a market where you go, you have an idea, you raise money, you make the game, you win. — Kristian Segerstrale, Founder @ Super Evil Mega Corp, Elite Game Developers Podcast May 2023