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BARCELONA, SPAIN – March 5, 2026 – Cheer Games, a next-generation mobile puzzle studio founded by former senior leaders at AppLovin’s Lion Studios and creators of the top-grossing hit Hexa Sort, raised a $4.5 million pre-seed round led by Makers Fund with participation from Play Ventures and a strategic group of angel investors.The funding will accelerate development of Cheer’s upcoming slate of games and expand its Barcelona headquarters with new global talent.
Cheer’s founding team, CEO Emre Gercel, CPO Berkay Ozturk, CTO Ertan Ünver and CMO Kutay Koralturk, has worked together for years, shipping top-grossing titles such as Hexa Sort, which surpassed $50M in IAP revenue alone, and building deep expertise across product, growth and business development. Drawing on that experience, they founded Cheer Games to focus on durable, scalable puzzle IP, aiming to build long-lived puzzle franchises through disciplined product execution.
“When I look across the table at Berkay, Kutay, and Ertan, I see the people who built the games our industry measures itself against and who chose to bet on what comes next. Berkay’s design vision built Hexa Sort into a top-grossing sort game in the world which the industry is still catching up. Kutay didn’t just scale games, he scaled the machine that scales games. Ertan built not one but two successful studios from scratch. That collective experience is not something you find twice. We started Cheer because we believed we could build something more durable than the industry’s short-term thinking allows for. To build games that become franchises and studios that become institutions. Barcelona gives us the global stage, our Turkish roots give us the hunger, and this team gives me complete confidence that we’ll deliver,” said Emre Gercel, CEO & Co-founder, Cheer Games.
Headquartered in Barcelona, the studio is building a focused, high-talent-density organization with talent from leading European gaming companies. Cheer Games has already assembled an 11 person team with deep roots in the mobile industry, and is actively hiring.
“From the first time we met the team, the chemistry between the founders was absolutely contagious,” Curtis Urbanowicz, Investor, Makers Fund. “They all fed off each other’s energy and expertise as they clearly shared the same vision and philosophy for their studio. The Cheer team has shown they can create fresh game concepts and then build the depth that keeps players coming back. We’re confident they can continue this with their new studio and we’re thrilled to be a part of their journey!”
“Truly complete founding teams are rare, but the Cheer founders cover every discipline that defines a top-tier game studio, from product and design to engineering, growth and live ops. At Play, we believe that succeeding in today’s market requires an innate understanding of the category you’re building in, and the Cheer team has demonstrated exactly that through Hexa Sort. That recent, battle-tested experience, combined with their ambition to build enduring games, gives them a meaningful edge from day one,” said Anton Backman, General Partner at Play Ventures.
To apply and learn more about Cheer Games, please visit and message the team on their LinkedIn.
About Cheer Games
Cheer Games is a mobile gaming studio creating casual puzzle games with fresh gameplay. Our goal is to entertain players with creative, engaging experiences, delivered with the quality and care that make every moment rewarding. To learn more about Cheer Games, please visit our LinkedIn.
About Makers Fund
Makers Fund is a global interactive entertainment venture capital firm focused on early-stage investments. Makers is dedicated to furthering growth and innovation in the interactive entertainment industry. With more than 90 portfolio companies to date, Makers provides founders strategic value that is deeply catered to companies across the value chain in the industry. For more information, visit makersfund.com.
About Play Ventures
Play Ventures is a leading early stage gaming and consumer app venture capital firm with offices in Singapore and Helsinki, Finland. Play is founded by gaming industry veterans Henric Suuronen and Harri Manninen, who have made successful exits to King and Disney respectively. Play invests globally in pre-seed to Series A startups in gaming, consumer apps, and gaming adjacent technology and SaaS. For more information, please visit www.playventures.vc.
Conclusion
The $4.5 million pre-seed funding round for Cheer Games, led by Makers Fund with Play Ventures, marks the arrival of a significant new player in the mobile gaming industry. More than just a financial injection, this investment is a powerful vote of confidence in the studio’s founding team—proven veterans from Lion Studios and the minds behind the massive success Hexa Sort. Cheer Games is not starting from scratch; it is leveraging a battle-tested, collaborative history of creating top-grossing titles. With a clear focus on building durable, long-term puzzle franchises rather than chasing short-term trends, the Barcelona-based studio is well-positioned to redefine what a mobile game franchise can be. By combining their deep operational expertise with a high-talent-density team and significant new capital, Cheer Games is poised to deliver the next generation of engaging puzzle experiences that keep players coming back.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. What is Cheer Games?
Cheer Games is a new mobile puzzle game studio headquartered in Barcelona, Spain. Founded by former senior leaders from AppLovin’s Lion Studios, the company aims to create durable, scalable puzzle IP and build long-lasting mobile game franchises.
2. How much funding did Cheer Games raise and who is involved?
Cheer Games raised $4.5 million in a pre-seed funding round. The round was led by Makers Fund, with significant participation from Play Ventures. A group of strategic angel investors also contributed to the round.
3. Who are the founders of Cheer Games and what is their background?
The founding team consists of CEO Emre Gercel, CPO Berkay Ozturk, CTO Ertan Ünver, and CMO Kutay Koralturk. They are a group of experienced industry leaders who have worked together for years. They previously shipped top-grossing titles at Lion Studios, most notably Hexa Sort, a puzzle game that generated over $50 million in in-app purchase (IAP) revenue alone.
4. What will the new funding be used for?
The $4.5 million investment will be used to accelerate the development of Cheer Games’ upcoming slate of puzzle games. It will also support the expansion of their Barcelona headquarters by hiring new global talent to join their current 11-person team.
5. What makes Cheer Games different from other mobile game studios?
Cheer Games distinguishes itself through its focus on creating durable, long-term franchises. Unlike the industry’s frequent short-term thinking, the founders aim to build games with depth that keep players engaged over time. Their strategy is rooted in the disciplined product execution they honed while creating industry-leading hits like Hexa Sort.
6. Why did Makers Fund and Play Ventures decide to invest?
Both investment firms cited the exceptional strength and chemistry of the founding team as a primary reason. They were impressed by the founders’ shared vision, complementary expertise across all key disciplines (product, design, engineering, growth), and their recent, proven track record of success with Hexa Sort. This “battle-tested” experience gives them a significant advantage from day one.
7. Is Cheer Games currently hiring?
Yes. The press release states that Cheer Games is “actively hiring” to expand its 11-person team. Interested applicants are encouraged to visit the company’s LinkedIn page for more information and to apply.
