Run by Ex-Jam City Executive, Robin Raises $7 Million to Build Lifestyle Games

Rachel Uranga

Rachel Uranga is dot.LA's Managing Editor, News. She is a former Mexico-based market correspondent at Reuters and has worked for several Southern California news outlets, including the Los Angeles Business Journal and the Los Angeles Daily News. She has covered everything from IPOs to immigration. Uranga is a graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism and California State University Northridge. A Los Angeles native, she lives with her husband, son and their felines.

Run by Ex-Jam City Executive, Robin Raises $7 Million to Build Lifestyle Games

A teenage boy holed up in his basement may be the image most people associate with gamers, but lifelong game-player Jill Wilson thinks the new face may be women on their cell phones looking to release a little stress.

Wilson, the company's founder, is trying to build a new genre called "lifestyle gaming" and she just got a big boost having raised $7 million in an oversubscribed seed round led by LVP along with backers from 1Up Ventures, Alpha Edison, Everblue Management, firstminute Capital, Greycroft Tracker Fund, Hearst Ventures and Third Kind Venture Capital.

"The concept itself is actually a new category of digital entertainment because it's not squarely in mobile gaming and it's not squarely in existing lifestyle content," Wilson said. "It's Pinterest meets mobile gaming."


The funding will go to building out the small Venice-based company and developing games for market. Wilson hopes the first game will be available within a year for download within the Apple and Google Play stores.

Robin Games founder Jill Wilson

Photo courtesy of Robin Games

Growing up having done puzzles with her father and playing cards with her grandmother gave the 37-year-old founder of Robin Games a lifelong appreciating of games. She joined Jam City after working for a company that did board games. She was among the first hires by the founders and an executive and that launched Panda Pop and Cookie Jam. During her time, she watched the industry boom. Mobile gaming is projected this year to top $100 billion in sales, according to a January report by market data firm App Annie

But, what's largely been missing from gaming are women and people of color at the top ranks, she said.

"We're working to change that," she said. About 80% of her staff will be women. And that along with more diversity will help her team build out what she hopes is a new genre of games.

Although Wilson wouldn't reveal much about what her games will entail, she moved away from traditional warcraft and shooter games.

"Plenty of women love those games, including me, but what is not explored are fantasies outside of that," she said. "Why aren't there more fantasies explored in game aside from the very specific types?"

Those questions propelled her to build Robin Games, along studies that showed that the largest growth of gamers was women between 35 to 50. Many of those were looking to relieve stress with some distracting games that they were playing in between moments in their lives like standing in line at Starbucks or in between meetings.App Annie found mobile gaming is the largest portion of the industry, outpacing console players. Many of those engaging in play are popping bubbles or playing shorter games that the industry calls "casual games."

"A lot of people who are gamers today don't even self identify, but it doesn't matter," Wilson said. "They're playing more than anybody else."

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GOAT Co-founder Eddy Lu On How His Sneaker Startup GOAT Achieved Unicorn Status

Spencer Rascoff

Spencer Rascoff serves as executive chairman of dot.LA. He is an entrepreneur and company leader who co-founded Zillow, Hotwire, dot.LA, Pacaso and Supernova, and who served as Zillow's CEO for a decade. During Spencer's time as CEO, Zillow won dozens of "best places to work" awards as it grew to over 4,500 employees, $3 billion in revenue, and $10 billion in market capitalization. Prior to Zillow, Spencer co-founded and was VP Corporate Development of Hotwire, which was sold to Expedia for $685 million in 2003. Through his startup studio and venture capital firm, 75 & Sunny, Spencer is an active angel investor in over 100 companies and is incubating several more.

GOAT Co-founder Eddy Lu On How His Sneaker Startup GOAT Achieved Unicorn Status
Eddy Lu

With LA Tech week approaching, I had to pull one of my favorite Office Hours’ episodes spotlighting a unicorn ecommerce sneaker startup GOAT, when co-founder and CEO Eddy Lu talked about how he achieved success and shared his insight on when to know if it's time to pivot or quit.

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LA Tech ‘Moves’: SpaceX Taps Former NASA Human Spaceflight Official

Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

LA Tech ‘Moves’: SpaceX Taps Former NASA Human Spaceflight Official
LA Tech ‘Moves’:

“Moves,” our roundup of job changes in L.A. tech, is presented by Interchange.LA, dot.LA's recruiting and career platform connecting Southern California's most exciting companies with top tech talent. Create a free Interchange.LA profile here—and if you're looking for ways to supercharge your recruiting efforts, find out more about Interchange.LA's white-glove recruiting service by emailing Sharmineh O’Farrill Lewis (sharmineh@dot.la). Please send job changes and personnel moves to moves@dot.la.

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Spencer Rascoff

Spencer Rascoff serves as executive chairman of dot.LA. He is an entrepreneur and company leader who co-founded Zillow, Hotwire, dot.LA, Pacaso and Supernova, and who served as Zillow's CEO for a decade. During Spencer's time as CEO, Zillow won dozens of "best places to work" awards as it grew to over 4,500 employees, $3 billion in revenue, and $10 billion in market capitalization. Prior to Zillow, Spencer co-founded and was VP Corporate Development of Hotwire, which was sold to Expedia for $685 million in 2003. Through his startup studio and venture capital firm, 75 & Sunny, Spencer is an active angel investor in over 100 companies and is incubating several more.

How To Adapt and Overcome To Reach Success With Your Startup
Evan Xie

What’s the best way to land a plane on a short runway? Maintain control of your descent. The same logic holds for early- to mid-stage startups that are facing harsh financial conditions in 2023. Research from the end of last year found that 81% of early stage start-ups have less than 12 months of runway left. Yikes. Pair that with the current post-SVB venture investment freeze, and it paints a stark picture of what’s ahead.

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