Bionic Panda Games

Bionic Panda Games was a mobile social games company established in March 2010, with its headquarters in San Francisco. The firm was co-founded by Charles Hudson, who served as CEO, and Mike Jimenez, the CTO. The duo had previously collaborated at Serious Business, the developer behind the Facebook game "Friends for Sale," which was acquired by Zynga in 2010. Hudson brought extensive experience from his roles at Google, Gaia Online, and as a venture partner at SoftTech VC. Jimenez provided the technical leadership, with a background that included roles at Cybersource and BitTorrent.

The company concentrated on creating free-to-play social games for the Android market, a rapidly growing platform at the time. Its business model was centered on microtransactions, where players could purchase virtual goods within the games. In January 2012, Bionic Panda Games announced it had secured an undisclosed amount of seed funding from a notable group of investors, including Google Ventures, SoftTech VC, Norwest Venture Partners, and 500 Startups. Some reports indicate the total funding reached $800,000.

The company's flagship title was "Aqua Pets," a virtual aquarium game launched in 2010 that allowed users to collect fish and decorate tanks. The game achieved considerable traction, accumulating nearly 4 million downloads and ranking as a top-100 grossing application on the Android Market. Another release was "Vacation Slots," a casino-style game for both Android and Apple devices. Despite the initial success of "Aqua Pets," the company ultimately ceased operations as its games did not maintain long-term appeal in an increasingly competitive market.

Keywords: mobile games, social gaming, Android games, free-to-play, microtransactions, Aqua Pets, Charles Hudson, Mike Jimenez, Google Ventures, SoftTech VC, Norwest Venture Partners, 500 Startups, virtual goods, social casino games, game developer, San Francisco startup, Serious Business alumni