O&A, a Los Angeles-based venture and corporate law firm for technology and content companies, is pleased to announce that it represented EK, a Los Angeles-based game company, on its $30 million Series A financing led by The Chernin Group (TCG). This financing round increases the company’s total funding to over $40 million and brings TCG into a key role to help EK grow to the next level.
The founders of EK, Elan Lee, former Chief Design Officer at Xbox, and Matthew Inman, author of the popular webcomic The Oatmeal, created the Exploding Kittens tabletop card game in 2015 in Elan Lee’s kitchen. The game can be described as “a card game for people who are into kittens and explosions and laser beams and sometimes goats.” The founding pair launched the game and the company with a record-breaking crowdfunding campaign that raised over $8.8 million in just 30 days. Since then, the company has launched multiple expansion packs, NSFW, and mobile versions for Exploding Kittens, as well as a host of additional games such as Bears vs Babies, You’ve Got Crabs, and Throw Throw Burrito.
EK will invest the new capital to develop more games for its fans, expand its IP into live events and other formats such as videogames, build out its team, control more of its production and distribution, and continue to experiment with innovative ideas around gameplay to help further build the community. In addition to new game launches, EK plans to host its first gaming convention, Burning Cat, in May 2020 at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, Oregon. The company sees Burning Cat as a re-invention of the typical fan convention with more emphasis placed on community, tabletop gaming, and actually having fun. Attendees will experience new game designers showing off experimental prototypes, the infamous Exploding Kittens Vending Machine, hand-picked vendors showing off their latest and greatest games and accessories, and a massive arena in the center with ludicrous stunts and insane spectacles every hour on the hour.
“We started this company because we had a game we thought was pretty fun, and we wanted to know if other people thought so too. Our fans have spent the last five years finding more and more amazing ways to shout, ‘YES!!’ and we wanted to keep giving them cool new products. As a small team that doesn’t get to sleep much, we needed some help to keep up with the demand and the pace,” said Elan Lee, Co-founder of Exploding Kittens, Inc.
“We have always been big fans and believers in Matt, Elan, the EK team, and the new form of tabletop card games that they are pioneering. We believe that Exploding Kittens is a franchise that has the potential to be like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles of the nineties. We are excited to see what Elan and Matt will do now with this funding that will enable their expansion into videogames, Burning Cat, and other ventures with both the EK franchise and their pipeline of other intellectual properties,” said Dan Offner, Managing Partner of O&A, P.C.
Further details on Exploding Kittens can be found on their website, https://explodingkittens.com/.
About O&A
O&A is an elite team of attorneys committed to helping clients achieve their objectives — efficiently and effectively. The firm represents some of the biggest companies in technology and interactive entertainment, as well as some of the world’s most innovative entrepreneurs and emerging growth companies. Founded by Dan Offner, O&A specializes in venture and corporate law for technology and content. For more information, please visit http://oandapc.com/.