Nintendo, Google and Pokémon Company invest $20M in Pokémon Go developer

Niantic Labs, the developer of Ingress and the recently announced Pokémon Go, is getting some big investment from some big names. Nintendo, Google and The Pokémon Company are investing $20 million in Niantic to help the studio grow and support its games.

"The Pokémon Company, Google and Nintendo are incredible investors and strategic partners to help build the next chapter for Niantic," said John Hanke, CEO of Niantic, in a release. "We will be using this capital to continue the development of Pokémon GO, to evolve and grow Ingress and its thriving global community, and to build out our real-world gaming platform."

"Pokémon's strategic investment in Niantic paves the way for a social mobile experience the world has never seen before," added Tsunekazu Ishihara, president and CEO of The Pokémon Company. "The Pokémon Company is committed to partnering with companies like Niantic that share the same spirit of community and innovation."

In addition to the upfront $20 million investment, Nintendo, Google and The Pokémon Company will provide an additional $10 million "conditioned upon achieving certain milestones" to Niantic.

Niantic Labs formed as a startup within Google, but the developer was spun off as an independent company in August. In September, Niantic announced it was developing Pokémon Go, a location-based mobile game based on Pokémon, for Android and iOS devices. The game is expected to hit mobile devices in 2016.