Shark Punch

Shark Punch is a games company with operations in San Francisco, California and Helsinki, Finland. Its main product is Playfield.io, a social discovery and community platform for games that lets players find new titles and lets developers connect directly with their player communities. The platform aggregates game-related content from multiple sources using a proprietary algorithm; the community then votes on, comments on and follows entries, with the highest-rated content surfacing to the top. Personalized, social- and interest-based recommendations were described as in development at the time of the platform's open beta launch.

The company also has a background as an indie game development studio. Its title The Masterplan, a squad-based heist game, was available on Steam Early Access as of early 2015. Bloomberg describes the entity Shark Punch, Inc. as a provider of internet media services.

Founding story

Founders named in press coverage of the company's seed round are Jiri Kupiainen, Leo Lännenmäki, Aarne Hunziker and Harri Manninen. Kupiainen has said the team's mixed industry backgrounds — including experience as an indie game developer — shaped its approach to the game discovery problem.

Business model

Shark Punch operates a two-sided platform serving gamers looking for titles to play and developers seeking to build and retain an audience, alongside its own game development activity.

Traction

At the open beta launch in February 2015, tens of developers had signed up and created pages about their games, and the company said it was in talks with several digital distribution platforms and with larger game development studios.

Latest developments

A venture equity transaction of about $1.45 million dated August 2017 is listed in a venture-capital transaction database as the company's most recent recorded financing activity.