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Niantic, Inc.
Niantic, Inc. (/naɪˈæntɪk/ ny-AN-tik) was an American software development company and video game developer based in San Francisco that developed augmented reality mobile games Ingress, Pokémon Go, and others. The company was formed as Niantic Labs in 2010 as an internal startup within Google. The company became an independent entity in October 2015 when Google restructured under Alphabet Inc.
In 2025, Niantic was acquired by Scopely, with its team operating as Scopely Explore, and its non-video game business spun off as Niantic Spatial.
Niantic also has offices in Bellevue, Sunnyvale, Seattle, Lawrence, Tokyo, London, Hamburg, and Zürich.
John Hanke worked at Keyhole in 2001, a software development company specializing in geospatial data visualization applications. Hanke was hired by Google in 2004 as part of Google's acquisition of Keyhole. Hanke led Google's Geo division, which was Google Maps, Google Earth, and Google Street View. The move to the Geo division included Keyhole employees such as Brian McClendon and Bill Kilday.
Hanke left the Geo division in October 2010 to form Niantic Labs, an internal startup within Google. The company's namesake is the whaling vessel Niantic, which came to San Francisco during the California gold rush in the 1840s. At the time Ingress was launched, Niantic had 35 employees.
The company spun out of Google in October 2015, soon after Google's announcement of its restructuring as Alphabet Inc. Niantic also announced that Google, Nintendo, and The Pokémon Company would invest up to $30 million in Series-A funding, $20 million upfront and the remaining $10 million in financing conditioned upon the company achieving certain milestones to support the growth of the company and its products. In February 2016, Niantic announced that it had secured an additional $5 million in Series A funding including investment from venture capital firms Alsop Louie Partners and You & Mr. Jones Brandtech Ventures, as well as angel investors Lucas Nealan, Cyan Banister, and Scott Banister. While adding more support for the growth of the company, this investment enabled Niantic to bring in strategic industry pioneers including the addition of Gilman Louie to its board.
In November 2017, Niantic raised $200 million in Series B funding from multiple investors, led by Spark Capital. Spark's Megan Quinn joined Niantic's board of directors during this investment round. Niantic acquired Evertoon, an app that lets users make short, personalized films. According to the company's announcement, the acquisition is meant to help build social systems. At the time of the acquisition, Evertoon was 18 months old and had five employees.
In February 2018, Niantic announced that it had acquired augmented reality company Escher Reality, a team focused on building persistent, cross-platform, multi-user experiences. Hanke stated that Niantic planned to allow third-party developers to build AR games similar to Pokémon Go.
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Niantic, Inc.
Niantic, Inc. (/naɪˈæntɪk/ ny-AN-tik) was an American software development company and video game developer based in San Francisco that developed augmented reality mobile games Ingress, Pokémon Go, and others. The company was formed as Niantic Labs in 2010 as an internal startup within Google. The company became an independent entity in October 2015 when Google restructured under Alphabet Inc.
In 2025, Niantic was acquired by Scopely, with its team operating as Scopely Explore, and its non-video game business spun off as Niantic Spatial.
Niantic also has offices in Bellevue, Sunnyvale, Seattle, Lawrence, Tokyo, London, Hamburg, and Zürich.
John Hanke worked at Keyhole in 2001, a software development company specializing in geospatial data visualization applications. Hanke was hired by Google in 2004 as part of Google's acquisition of Keyhole. Hanke led Google's Geo division, which was Google Maps, Google Earth, and Google Street View. The move to the Geo division included Keyhole employees such as Brian McClendon and Bill Kilday.
Hanke left the Geo division in October 2010 to form Niantic Labs, an internal startup within Google. The company's namesake is the whaling vessel Niantic, which came to San Francisco during the California gold rush in the 1840s. At the time Ingress was launched, Niantic had 35 employees.
The company spun out of Google in October 2015, soon after Google's announcement of its restructuring as Alphabet Inc. Niantic also announced that Google, Nintendo, and The Pokémon Company would invest up to $30 million in Series-A funding, $20 million upfront and the remaining $10 million in financing conditioned upon the company achieving certain milestones to support the growth of the company and its products. In February 2016, Niantic announced that it had secured an additional $5 million in Series A funding including investment from venture capital firms Alsop Louie Partners and You & Mr. Jones Brandtech Ventures, as well as angel investors Lucas Nealan, Cyan Banister, and Scott Banister. While adding more support for the growth of the company, this investment enabled Niantic to bring in strategic industry pioneers including the addition of Gilman Louie to its board.
In November 2017, Niantic raised $200 million in Series B funding from multiple investors, led by Spark Capital. Spark's Megan Quinn joined Niantic's board of directors during this investment round. Niantic acquired Evertoon, an app that lets users make short, personalized films. According to the company's announcement, the acquisition is meant to help build social systems. At the time of the acquisition, Evertoon was 18 months old and had five employees.
In February 2018, Niantic announced that it had acquired augmented reality company Escher Reality, a team focused on building persistent, cross-platform, multi-user experiences. Hanke stated that Niantic planned to allow third-party developers to build AR games similar to Pokémon Go.