Harri Manninen

Founding Partner at Play Ventures · Joined 2018

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Biography

Harri Manninen is a Founding Partner of Play Ventures and is based in Helsinki. His Play Ventures team page states he has over 18 years of experience in gaming, that he previously co-founded Rocket Pack, which was acquired by Disney in 2011, and that he co-founded the influencer marketing platform Matchmade, also known as Shark Punch. The page states his angel portfolio includes Mighty Bear Games, Starberry Games, Matchmade, Vizor Bloom, FitXR and Transfluent, and that he built the Nordic XR Startups pre-seed accelerator in Helsinki with gumi and Nordisk Film, investing in ten early-stage Nordic VR and AR startups. He is the Play Ventures partner most frequently quoted in the firm's investment announcements, appearing by name on Cypher Games, Metica, Social First and Kek Entertainment. No current board seat could be sourced; none of those announcements states a board appointment.

Previous Experience

Notable Investments

Cypher GamesMeticaSocial FirstKek EntertainmentMighty Bear GamesStarberry GamesMatchmadeVizor BloomFitXRTransfluent

Career Timeline

2011
Rocket Pack, the company he co-founded, is acquired by Disney, per his Play Ventures team page.
2018
Co-founds Play Ventures.
2021
Quoted as founding partner in the announcement of Kek Entertainment's pre-seed round.
2025
Quoted as co-founder of Play Ventures in Metica's January 2025 $9M seed round announcement, and as Founding Partner in Cypher Games' October 2025 $30M Series A announcement, where he states Play Ventures was the first to back Cypher.

Sources & References

Play Ventures - Team page, Harri Manninen biography ↗tech.eu - Cypher Games closes Series A led by Raine Group and Play Ventures (2 October 2025) ↗Metica - Ex-King and ex-Apple team raise $9 million seed (16 January 2025) ↗PocketGamer.biz - Social First raises further $4.2M ↗VentureBeat - Kek Entertainment raises $3 million (1 November 2021) ↗