Moshi Monsters UK studio valued at £125m

A transfer of stock of London studio Mind Candy has valued the Moshi Monsters developer at £125 million.

Investment group Spark Ventures cashed in on half of its shares in Mind Candy, having owned equity in the group for a number of years.

The share value had soared about 1,500 per cen since Spark Ventures first invested, the investment firm said.

Moshi Monsters now has more than 50 million registered online players worldwide, and Mind Candy has made a business from toys and merchandise sales.

“At start-up we backed the brilliantly creative and visionary founder of Mind Candy, Michael Acton Smith, in 2004, and are impressed and delighted by its rapid growth and popularity among children in over 180 countries,” said Spark Venture Management boss Thomas Teichman.

Late last year, Mind Candy forecast 2011 revenues of $100 million from merchandising alone.