Colourful monsters continue to prove big business for Mind Candy, the Shoreditch firm behind popular online kids game Moshi Monsters.
The company revealed its Moshi Monster characters have become the most licensed property in the UK, used for everything from lunch boxes to McDonald's Happy Meal toys. The firm pulled in £19.3 million from licensing in 2012, up from £9.7 million in 2011.
The Old Street-based firm's total revenues jump over 60% to £46.9 million in 2012, up from £28.9 million a year earlier. Profit increased only slightly to £10m for the year end December 31, up from £9.8m a year earlier, as administrative costs increased.
Mind Candy was founded in 2004 by colourful entrepreneur Michael Acton Smith, who previously co-founded online gadget retailer Firebox. Backers include Index Ventures, early investors in Skype and SoundCloud, and Accel Partners, investors in Facebook, Rovio and Spotify.
Mind Candy's accounts also revealed that users of its flagship game, a virtual world where children control their own pet monster, increased from 55 million to 70 million.
The company ramped up hiring in 2012, ending the year with 87 more staff. The firm’s highest paid director, who wasn’t named, earned £402,083 in the year.
Mind Candy is part of a group of fast-growing internet firms considered ripe for a stock market flotation and King, the Soho-based studio behind hit game Candy Crush, has reportedly secretly started IPO proceedings in the US.
