Epic Games Inc, the video game company behind Fortnite, said the business is valued at US$17.3bil after completing a new round of funding. The deal makes Epic the fifth-most-valuable technology startup in the US.

The Cary, North Carolina-based company said the total size of the financing was US$1.78bil . That includes investments from Baillie Gifford, funds managed by BlackRock Inc, Fidelity Investments and Lightspeed Venture Partners. The number also contains last month’s US$250mil investment from Sony Corp and purchases from employee equity holders.

Bloomberg reported in April that Epic, which also owns a widely used set of game development tools called the Unreal Engine, was seeking investments at a value of more than US$15bil . By June, as the effects of the coronavirus pandemic boosted demand for video games, the valuation had reached about US$17bil .

With the funds secured, Epic is now more valuable than the likes of DoorDash Inc and Instacart Inc, two food delivery companies that have also benefited from pandemic-related spending. Epic only trails Stripe Inc, Space Exploration Technologies Corp, Palantir Technologies Inc and Airbnb Inc in the US, according to technology market research firm CB Insights.

 - Bloomberg