Ex-Google startup Niantic Labs, developers of Ingress and the upcoming location-based mobile title Pokémon Go, has scored another $5 million in funding, adding it to the $20 million Series A round it had already announced late last year, for a total of $25 million.
“We carved out $5 million from our Series A round to let others come in. It is prudent to raise a little extra money and bring in strategic people,” CEO John Hanke told VentureBeat.
Hanke posted a blog on Niantic’s site that goes a little more into the reasoning of taking on this extra round — and bringing investor Gilman Louie, whose VC firm Alsop Louie participated in the round, onto its board.
“Gilman brings personal experience ranging from founding game industry pioneer Spectrum Holobyte to investing in Keyhole and later in Twitch. David Jones and his new venture ‘You and Mr Jones’ will be bringing an unparalleled knowledge of the new brand technology industry,” Hanke writes.
Another investor in this latest round is Japanese TV network Fuji Television, which brings Asian media experience to bear on the company, according to Hanke — particularly important when a U.S.-based developer is working with a Japanese license.