Red Robot Labs raises $8.5m for location-based mobile games

Adds former EA Mobile boss Mitch Lasky to board of directors.

US startup Red Robot Labs has raised $8.5 million in Series A funding, led by Benchmark Capital, with Shasta Ventures and existing individual investors all chipping in.

The company is focusing on location based mobile games, and recently released its first: Life is Crime, which was ME's App Of The Day a couple of weeks ago.

"We recognised the enormous opportunity presented by location gameplay on mobile devices - location games are very sticky," says CEO Mike Ouye. "We've developed a significant game and platform strategy that appeals to both core gamers and casual audiences seeking a high quality social gaming experience built around their daily routines."

Red Robot Labs isn't just making a games: it's making a platform called R2 for other developers to build games on top of. Developing that and striking partnerships with other studios will be two of the ways it spends the funding round.

As part of that round, the company has added another games industry veteran to its board of directors. Benchmark general partner Mitch Lasky is joining the board. Sounds familiar? He was the boss of mobile games publisher Jamdat back in the day, before taking up an SVP role after it was acquired by Electronic Arts, and subsequently moving on to VC-land.