Epic Games Raises a $1.8B Funding at a Post-Money Equity Valuation of $17.3B

Fortnite developer Epic Games announced a $1.78B USD corporate venture round consisting of primary capital and secondary purchases from employee equity holders. The investment puts the company’s post-money equity valuation at $17.3B, up roughly 15% compared to its $15B valuation in 2018 when Epic Games raised a $1.25B round. The funding round includes a $250M strategic investment made by Sony Corporation in July.

Participants in the investment round included UK investment management firm Baillie Gifford (roughly $250B under management), funds and accounts managed by BlackRock (roughly $7.4T under management), Fidelity Management & Research Company (roughly $680B under management), Lightspeed Venture Partners (roughly $4B under management), Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board (roughly $155B under management), funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates (roughly $1.1T under management), and American billionaire businessman and hedge fund manager David Tepper. Existing investors KKR and Smash Ventures also added to their 2018 investment.

Following the closing of the funding round, Epic Games will continue to have one class of common stock outstanding and will remain controlled by its founder and CEO, Tim Sweeney. The second-largest shareholder of the company is Riot Games parent company Tencent, which holds a considerable minority stake in the firm.

The sum raised by the Cary, North Carolina-based company exceeded the amount of $750M, which Epic Games reportedly was close to raising in June, by more than $1B.

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