Roblox To Now Go Public Through Direct Listing, Raises $520M In Fresh Funding

Online gaming platform Roblox disclosed Wednesday that it raised $520 million in a Series H funding, primarily led by investment firms Altimeter Capital and Dragoneer Investment Group. Other investors included The Group of Santa Barbara and Warner Music Group Corp WMG.

What Happened: Along with the Series H funding announcement, Roblox disclosed plans to file for a direct listing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The recent fundraising series pushes Roblox’s valuation upwards to $29.5 billion. David Baszucki, CEO and co-founder of Roblox, said that the capital raised will be used to enhance its online platform as well as users' co-experience. Currently, the online gaming platform witnesses approximately 31 million daily active users.

CNBC cited a separate SEC filing that indicates the gaming company could further raise an additional $30 million.

Why Does It Matter: According to Reuters, Roblox was valued at $4 billion in February last year after its Series G funding. At the time, the gaming platform secured $150 million from seven investors, as per Crunchbase. The current valuation has jumped about 7.5 times in comparison.

Roblox initially filed for its NYSE IPO listing in the third week of November. However, in December last year, reports suggested that Roblox postponed the IPO launch to early 2021 following the strong demand for DoorDash Inc DASH and Airbnb Inc’s ABNB IPO.