After serving several years as an executive at mobile game publisher Jam City, Jill Wilson is branching out on her own to launch her own gaming company, Robin Games. The company is focused on pioneering a new category in interactive media – Lifestyle Gaming. Robin plans to introduce free-to-play mobile games blended with lifestyle content. As the mobile gaming industry is expected to grow to $300B by 2025, the Robin Games team is hard at work getting ready to launch its first title to capitalize on this meteoric growth.
LA TechWatch sat down with CEO and Founder Jill Wilson to learn more about the company, its future plans, and recent funding round.
Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
$7M Seed Round, led by sector expert LVP, with additional funding from leaders across gaming, media and entertainment, including 1Up Ventures, Alpha Edison, Everblue Management, firstminute Capital, Greycroft Tracker Fund, Hearst Ventures, and Third Kind Venture Capital.
Tell us about the product or service Robin Games offers.
At Robin, we are creating a new category of digital entertainment called Lifestyle Gaming that fuses together the virality of lifestyle content with the engagement and business model of mobile games. Our content will cover topics you’d find in a high-end magazine, reasons you would be compelled to follow an influencer on Instagram, and places your imagination may go when reading a lifestyle blog – fantasies that inspire creativity.
What inspired the start of Robin Games?
I’ve been circling around this idea for quite some time because I’ve wanted to play the games we’ll be making but couldn’t find them in the current market. I’ve always designed products for myself first and foremost, which allows me to deeply connect with what the end-user really wants since the end-user is me! Recently, I realized that not only did we have a unique answer to a pretty major gap in the market but also that the timing was right and most importantly, that we could pull together the exact right team to execute this vision.
But our mission goes beyond filling a gap in the market. We’re really looking to shake up the games industry, not only redefining what a modern game team looks like, but also changing the definition itself of what it means to be a gamer.
How is it different?
We are building a new category of digital entertainment that sits between lifestyle content and mobile games.
What market you are targeting and how big is it?
The $68.5B global mobile games industry.
Who do you consider to be your primary competitors?
We don’t see any true competitors out there, as we are not quite a lifestyle product and not quite a traditional mobile game, but rather are a hybrid of the two, which has not yet been done.
What’s your business model?
Our primary business model is free-to-play mobile, but our unique partnership strategy will allow us to expand the model to include different revenue streams as we scale.
What was the funding process like?
I actually enjoyed it. Answering the investors’ questions about the business helped me to think through potential challenges that had not yet occurred to me and flesh out more details about our strategy.
What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?
Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s all fell within our 2-month raise, so the calendar was not on our side, but we made it work.
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What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
I believe it was confidence in our team (who have been working and making hit games together for years), the gap in the market and our vision for how to fill that gap.
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
Over the next six months, we will be heads down building our first game
What advice can you offer companies in Los Angeles that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?
At Robin, we are incredibly fortunate to be in an industry where we can easily work from home and where usage and monetization is increasing as a result of the mass quarantines, but this is a uniquely challenging time in history, as we navigate the worsening COVID-19 situation.
At Robin, we are incredibly fortunate to be in an industry where we can easily work from home and where usage and monetization is increasing as a result of the mass quarantines, but this is a uniquely challenging time in history, as we navigate the worsening COVID-19 situation.
I would advise all businesses, regardless of how much capital they have in the bank, to revisit their budgets and take measures to ensure that the business can survive this, understanding that we still don’t know how long this will last. However, I would also encourage businesses to look for hidden opportunities that might arise as a result of COVID-19 and to ask themselves the question, “what can we do as a business to help people during this time?” because the answer may very well lead to a new, positive opportunity for your company.
What is your favorite restaurant in LA?
NIGHT + MARKET Sahm, Gjusta, El Huarachito (for Tacos al Gobernador).
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