The gaming company  Pazzing  has gained Martin Kværnstuen, former CFO of Kahoot, as an owner in a financing round totaling three million kroner.

Pazzing is developing a gaming platform that combines social experiences and gaming tasks in augmented reality (AR) linked to geographical locations. Previously, the entrepreneurs have received public grants from, among others Research Council to develop a prototype of the gaming platform.

– We are very pleased to have created a successful prototype of Pazzing, which has been well received by betting players, resulting in very competent and engaging investors joining our further development,” says co-founder and CEO Martin Mathisen.

– The next step is to recruit new talented employees to the team who share our vision of creating social and engaging gaming experiences,” he says.

Gets Kahoot millions

In the app, mobile players work together to solve a series of puzzles presented in AR, much like a “digital rebus race”. Players can also create their own tasks and then share their gaming experiences with friends, family and other Pazzing players.

Martin Kværnstuen left his job as Head of Finance at Kahoot this summer after six years.

At the same time, he sold shares for more than SEK 260 million, which he would use to find and create new companies.

He is now investing one million kroner of his winnings in Pazzing.

– They have created a well-thought-out game concept that contains many of the elements that I believe are necessary for success. It will be interesting to assist the company both financially and hopefully with some good advice in the years to come,” says Kværnstuen.

He is joined by Norinnova and a small collective of Norwegian angel investors in the round.

In addition to private investor capital, Pazzing receives NOK 125,000 from Nordnorsk Filmsenter and NOK 400,000 from Innovation Norway to further develop the AR platform.

Inspired by Norwegian successes

The game founders, based in Tromsø, Norway, believe that the development of the game in Norway in no way hinders the global ambitions of the game project.

– Norwegian successes such as Kahoot, Wordfeud and the game studio Dirtybit who have made The FunRun games have been a great inspiration for us. Our goal is of course to follow these examples in the long term by taking our own game project out into the world,” says Mathisen.

Furthermore, the founders emphasize that there is still a long road to international success, but are pleased that the team is constantly reaching new milestones.

– We are humbled and proud to have knowledgeable investors in place, and our next focus will be to find more talented and enterprising employees who will both thrive in our team and who are passionate about taking part in the development of the exciting game project,” Mathisen concludes.