Google Ventures just made its first investment in mainland Europe

Swedish gaming studio Resolution Games has raised a $6 million (around €5.2 million, £3.8 million) round led by Google Ventures, Tech.eu reports.

This is the first time Google Ventures has invested in a European firm that isn't based in the UK. The Stockholm-based firm specializes in virtual reality games and has created a version of solitaire and a fishing game for VR. Resolution plans to use the funding to grow its development teams so it can create multiple games at the same time.

The company's cofounder and CEO Tommy Palm used to work for King, and has been given some of the credit for the huge success of the Candy Crush Saga. Palm left King last year and launched his new company in May, which now has 10 employees. Chief operating officer Måns Ullerstam is also a mobile games pioneer. While at Picofun he created Lifestylers, the first mobile game in the world to reach a million users.

Creandum, Bonnier Growth Media, Partech Ventures and Initial Capital also took part in the round.

According to VentureBeat, Palm says the company wasn't looking for funding when it was first approached by Google Ventures. He received a query from Google Ventures partner Joe Kraus, and was impressed with his insight into virtual and augmented reality. Interestingly, Kraus is part of the Google Ventures US team, rather than Google Ventures Europe. A Facebook post from Revolution Games in May also showed the company meeting an investor at Sand Hill Road, California, which is known for its concentration of venture capital firms.