Turkish mobile gaming start-up defies economic turmoil to hit a $2.75 billion valuation

Royal Match, a puzzle game developed by Turkey’s Dream Games, is now played by 13 million people each month.

Investors are betting the next big success story in gaming will come out of Turkey, even as the country endures a brutal economic crisis.

Istanbul-based mobile game developer Dream Games has raised $255 million in a new round of funding, the company told CNBC. Investors now value the firm at $2.75 billion, almost triple the $1 billion it was worth just six months ago in its last series of fundraising.

The cash injection was led by Index Ventures, which first backed the company in February 2021. Existing investors Makers Fund, IVP, Kora and Balderton Capital also participated in the round, while BlackRock joined as a new investor.

Mobile gaming — and tech more broadly — is proving to be a bright spot in an otherwise hellish economic landscape in Turkey.

Turks have faced soaring prices amid a plunge in the value of the lira — the currency has fallen more than 40% against the U.S. dollar in the past year.

Some of this decline was fueled by geopolitical tensions, in addition to Turkey’s excessive trade deficit and mounting debts. But investors say the situation was exacerbated by an unorthodox monetary policy, with the central bank cutting interest rates aggressively at the behest of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.