Gaming hardware company Razer has been on our radar for quite a long time: they’ve made high-end gaming peripherals like mice and keyboards for years, and have recently expanded into more esoteric devices and game-specific partnerships. They’ve been running under their own steam this whole time as what’s called a “successful business,” but they’ve decided to take a big funding round to expand their reach.
IDG-Accel, specifically their joint China Capital Fund, has chipped in to the tune of $50 million, a minority investment that allows the fund to join the board at Razer, and allows Razer to expand further into the whole-systems business, something that requires considerably more R&D and space to manage.
Razer tells us that the new money and board member shouldn’t affect day-to-day operation, and says the investment was “fairly straightforward,” though they wouldn’t say whether it was contingent on any goals, markets, or products.
The money will largely be used for R&D, particularly in gaming user interfaces and systems. The company has been putting more effort into partnership deals, like StarCraft 2 branded mice and keyboards, and most recently they put out a full-on gaming laptop, the Blade, with a built-in touchscreen and LCD keys among other things. Presumably more systems like this or product partnerships with larger OEMs will be enabled by the cash infusion.
And the fact that the fund is China-focused is not trivial; the Chinese gaming market is exploding and is considerably more PC-based than the US and Japan, where consoles are more popular. PC gaming is the primordial ooze from which Razer emerged, and although it is still going strong here, it’s going stronger in China and Razer likely senses the magnitude of the opportunity.