Hooded Horse CEO announces $100 million Griffin fund, directly to small indie developers

The CEO of Hooded Horse, Tim Bender, announced on LinkedIn that he would be managing a new fund for Griffin that has pledged $100 million to aid the development of indie titles in exchange for a flat percentage of revenue share.

“$100 million to put directly in the hands of indie studios,” read the announcement, “on a no-recoup, no-equity basis — just simple terms of a flat percentage revenue share in exchange for the funds to make the game.”

He goes on to say that this is a direct result of many games being pitched to Hooded Horse that fall outside the scope of their publishing focus. He adds that he isn’t starting a new publisher, nor is Hooded Horse changing its focus, but that this is simply a new way for indie developers to get the support they need.

Griffin is a leading venture fund exclusively focused on gaming and gaming-adjacent industries, and was founded by Peter Levin, Phil Sanderson, and Nicholas Tuosto in January 2019. Since then, it’s built up a portfolio managing $1.5 billion dollars in capital investments.

All three are gamers to some degree, with Peter stating that his favorite game is Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Nick enjoys Magic: The Gathering, and Phil is a Dungeons and Dragons man.

Their website states that they invest in gaming startups at all stages, and lists Discord as one of its projects.

The company shares its email address via a button on the website, opening the door to anyone to submit their game.

No one shared exactly what the revenue split would look like, but one has to imagine that it will depend on the stage and total capital invested.