News broke yesterday evening that social gaming giant Zynga has raised $150 million from Japanese firm Softbank Capital, bringing the company’s total funding up to a whopping $366 million. We’ve confirmed the funding from sources close to Zynga.
The investment from Asia will likely pave the way for Zynga’s expansion into the Japanese market. Zynga already has interests in the Asian market. The company just bought Chinese gaming company XPD Media and opened up an office in Beijing. And earlier this year, Zynga set up shop in Bangalore, India. According to a report by VentureBeat in April, this latest investment is likely part of a larger partnership with Softbank in Japan.
The social gaming market in Asia has potential both in terms of a massive user base and talent. But as Zynga expands its footprint to these areas, the company will also encounter a number of worthy competitors in the region, including Japan’s DeNa group and China’s Tencent and Shanda.
Last fall, Zynga raised $180 million in funding from DST and others. More recently, the company’s valuation was estimated around $4 billion.
Update: Revision3′s statement: “Kevin will be wrapping his involvement as a regular co-host of Diggnation at the end of 2010. The future of Diggnation will be determined sometime in the Fall. We have been talking to Kevin about fforward for some time now and are very excited about this new and very innovative project.”
