Neon raises $14 million to create web shops for developers

Web shop platform Neon has raised $14 million to expand its platform and team as it aims to take advantage of the direct-to-consumer trend.

As reported by GamesBeat, the funding has come from Thrive Capital, Renegade Partners, a16z Speedrun, Max Levchin’s SciFi VC and Ribbit Capital.

That team comprises staff who have previously built and scaled products at Unity, Supercell, Netflix and others.

The way of the web shop

Direct-to-consumer web shops have become increasingly prevalent in the mobile games market, with 72% of the 20 highest-grossing mobile games reportedly now using one.

They offer a way for developers to avoid Apple and Google’s royalty fees by providing transactions for players outside of a game, retaining more of those users’ spending in the process.

Neon said it offers customisable web shops with a range of options available to incentivise players. These include discounts, web exclusives, targeted offers and more.

Primarily targetting developers making $50 million or more in revenue, Neon can be integrated into an existing web shop or offer its own. It can also manage currency conversions and translations so that these stores can be extended to players globally.

“Our view is that all of the regulatory actions and the app store policy changes that have occurred since 2021 and continue to unfold represent an inflection point for the games industry,” said Neon CEO Chris Faught.

“When you combine this regulatory driven opportunity with the very many other technology tailwinds, like the push for more cross-platform games, advancements in streaming, WebGL, AI and Web3 gaming – when you combine all of those things, this points to a future where the industry is far more centered around the people who make and play games, developers and players, versus one that’s just centered around the platform.”