Swedish mobile game studio Turborilla has secured $5 million in non-dilutive user acquisition funding to support continued growth across its portfolio. The financing was led by Metica through its Metica Fuel product, which provides performance-linked capital for marketing and player acquisition without requiring studios to give up equity.
The deal follows a strong period for Turborilla, which reported its best financial performance in more than three years in December. With competition in the mobile market remaining intense, the studio is positioning itself to scale its audience while maintaining ownership of its business.
A Different Approach to Funding Mobile Growth
Rather than raising a traditional investment round, Turborilla’s $5 million facility is designed specifically for user acquisition. Non-dilutive financing allows the studio to spend more aggressively on marketing campaigns while keeping its existing ownership structure intact.
Metica Fuel works by tying funding to performance metrics, enabling studios to scale acquisition spending based on return on investment. For Turborilla, this approach provides flexibility to test and expand campaigns across regions and platforms without long-term equity trade-offs.
User acquisition remains one of the biggest challenges for mobile developers, particularly as advertising costs fluctuate and discoverability becomes harder on app stores. The structure of the deal gives Turborilla capital focused directly on growth rather than broader corporate expansion.
Mad Skills Franchises Continue to Scale
Turborilla is best known for its Mad Skills Motocross and Mad Skills BMX series, which together have surpassed 200 million downloads worldwide. The games focus on side-scrolling racing with physics-based controls, competitive progression systems, and ongoing live-service updates.
Over the years, the Mad Skills titles have built a long-term audience through regular content releases, leaderboard competition, and tuning updates that keep performance consistent across devices. The new funding will help Turborilla increase visibility for these games and bring in new players as the mobile racing genre continues to evolve.
With mobile players having more options than ever, sustained acquisition and retention are essential to keeping franchises relevant over time.
Leadership Changes Set the Direction
Turborilla’s recent momentum also follows a leadership transition in mid-2025. John Wright, formerly of mobile publisher Kwalee, joined the studio as CEO, bringing nearly 15 years of experience across publishing, growth, and live operations. Founder Tobias Andersson stepped away from the CEO role and moved into a board position.
Wright’s arrival marked a shift toward scaling Turborilla’s business operations and improving commercial performance alongside game development. Since then, the studio has focused on optimizing live-service performance and user acquisition efficiency, helping drive the financial improvements seen at the end of 2025.
The funding supports that strategy by giving the company more room to experiment with growth without restructuring ownership.
Momentum Going Into 2026
December 2025 became Turborilla’s strongest month in more than three years, signaling a recovery and expansion phase for the studio. The $5 million facility builds on that momentum by enabling larger and more consistent acquisition efforts.
Instead of focusing on new equity partners, Turborilla can now reinvest directly into marketing, lifecycle management, and regional expansion for its existing games. This approach allows the studio to strengthen its current franchises while preparing for future projects.
As mobile and web3-adjacent technologies continue to influence monetization and player engagement models, flexible funding options are becoming more attractive to studios seeking stability without dilution.
What This Means for Mobile Racing Fans
For players, the deal is less about immediate new releases and more about long-term support. Increased acquisition funding often leads to healthier live services, more consistent updates, and stronger competitive ecosystems inside existing games.
Turborilla’s Mad Skills series has already shown staying power, and the new capital gives the studio room to maintain content pipelines while expanding the player base globally. While no new titles were announced as part of the deal, the focus on growth suggests continued investment in performance, progression systems, and live events.
The studio enters 2026 with financial stability, a scalable funding model, and franchises that already have significant reach across the mobile market.
Source: PocketGamer
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What funding did Turborilla secure?
Turborilla secured $5 million in non-dilutive user acquisition funding led by Metica through its Metica Fuel financing product.
What does non-dilutive funding mean?
Non-dilutive funding allows a company to raise capital without giving up equity or ownership, unlike traditional investment rounds.
What games does Turborilla make?
Turborilla is known for the Mad Skills Motocross and Mad Skills BMX franchises, which have surpassed 200 million downloads on mobile platforms.
How will Turborilla use the $5m funding?
The funding will be used primarily to scale user acquisition, improve marketing efficiency, and grow the player base for existing mobile games.
Who leads Turborilla now?
John Wright became CEO in June 2025 after previously working at Kwalee, while founder Tobias Andersson moved into a board role.
Does this mean new Mad Skills games are coming?
No new titles were announced with the funding, but the investment supports continued growth, live-service updates, and long-term franchise support.
