More Indie Games Are On The Horizon As Huntsville Startup Freedom Games Raises $10M Seed Round

Just 18 months since its founding, Freedom Games has big plans for the indie video game market. 

The Alabama startup just raised its first round of outside capital, a $10 million seed round led by Singapore-based gaming VC firm Play Ventures

Nashville Capital Network and San Francisco-based GFR Fund also joined the seed round. 

Co-founder Donovan Duncan, based out of Huntsville, told Hypepotamus that the company got off the ground after the founding team saw an opportunity to bring “great games in front of massive audiences” and support game developers. 

Duncan previously served as President of Curse and Fandom. Co-founder Ben Robinson was the VP of Gaming at Fandom and the founder of the large gaming wiki platform Gamepedia. 

“We have had many years experience marketing games,” Duncan told Hypepotamus. “Recently we’ve felt that indie games were underserved in the market and decided to apply some of our past learnings in our careers about marketing major games to large audiences and applied some of those same ideas and methods of community building and game marketing around really cool indie developed experiences.” 

Big gamers might recognize a few titles the company has already helped release, like Cat Cafe Manager, Coromon, Symphony of War, and 34 other games listed on the company’s website. 

The funding round suggests the company is ready to expand in 2023. 

“Freedom’s rapid growth is a clear sign of where the heart of the game industry lies, with indie games,” said Harri Manninen, Founding Partner at Play Ventures, in a press statement. 

 

GAMING IN THE SOUTHEAST 

While a remote-first company, the team particularly draws in talent from across the Southeast.

We’re really fortunate in gaming, we have lots of resumes for most of our positions and the talent pool is vast and experienced. That said, we always have appreciated the supportive environment and hunger to do business that we’ve found in many of the Southeastern cities we do business in,” Duncan said. “I’m personally based out of Huntsville and can speak to the constant hustle I experience in the scene here.” 

That strong Southeast talent pool makes sense. Not only is the region home to Epic Games, one of the largest video game and software developer and publisher in the country, it is also home to startups like Ghost Gaming, Skillshot Media, and Pharoah’s Conclave

Universities – including SCAD, Georgia Tech, Georgia State, Morris Brown, and UNC Charlotte – all have programs specifically for those interested in pursuing gaming careers. 

 

Featured Photo by Alex Haney on Unsplash