Grand Games raises $70M as Turkey's mobile gaming machine keeps producing hits
What's the deal? Grand Games, an Istanbul-based mobile gaming studio, has raised $70M in a Series B round led by Balderton Capital's Growth Fund, bringing total funding to $103M. Bek VenturesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Laton VenturesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, and angel investor Mert GurDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → also participated.
Balderton doubled down on its investment from early 2025, when it led the company's $30M Series A. The company's valuation has increased nearly sixfold since that round, though the founders declined to disclose the current figure.
Founded in 2024, Grand Games has six titles and surpassed 50 million downloads globally. Its flagship game, Magic Sort!, ranks among the top free games on Apple's US App Store.
The company generates more than $1M in daily revenue through a hybrid model combining advertising and in-app purchases. The new capital will fund workforce expansion and accelerated game development.
Why now? Turkey has established itself as one of the world's most productive mobile gaming ecosystems. The country's track record is striking: Peak GamesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → was acquired by Zynga for $1.8B in 2020, Dream Games was valued at approximately $5B in a funding round in 2025, and Saudi-owned Scopely acquired a majority stake in Istanbul-based Loom Games in February 2026.
Grand Games is the latest in a pipeline of Turkish studios attracting serious international capital — and at less than two years old, it is moving faster than any of its predecessors.
The hybrid casual genre — games that are easy to pick up but offer enough depth to retain players — has proven one of the most commercially durable categories in mobile gaming, generating strong advertising revenue from broad audiences while converting a subset of players to paying customers.
What could go wrong? Grand Games is barely a year old as a commercial entity. Sustaining the growth needed to justify a near-sixfold valuation increase requires not just one hit game but a repeatable pipeline — and mobile gaming is notoriously hit-driven. A single poorly received title or a shift in app store algorithms could significantly affect revenue and user acquisition costs.
The company is also raising in a market where user acquisition costs have risen sharply as competition for mobile advertising inventory intensifies. Maintaining $1M in daily revenue at scale requires continued investment in marketing that can erode margins quickly.
The signal: Grand Games is the clearest signal yet that Turkey's mobile gaming ecosystem is producing a new generation of studios that can build, ship, and monetise at global scale with remarkable speed.
Balderton's decision to lead both the Series A and Series B — and to nearly triple its commitment — reflects conviction that Grand Games has the team and the product methodology to join Dream Games and Peak Games in the upper tier of Turkish gaming success stories.
Sources:
Bloomberg
Balderton Capital
The Next Web
Mobidictum
Pocket Gamer
Image credit:
Grand Games
J.V.
