Glu looks to fill its channels with new publishing initiative

As reflected in its slightly wobbly 2012 financials, Glu Mobile isn't just waiting around when it comes to finding future growth and - more importantly - profits.

The company has invested in Austin, Texas-start up Bee Cave Games.

It's working on Blackjack Casino, which is currently in beta on Facebook, but also coming to mobile.

Founded by industry veterans from EA, Zynga and Blizzard, Bee Cave has raised over $1.4 million in a seed round, with Glu providing the strategic investment.

Other unnamed private investors also contributed.

Glu first highlighted its interest in casino games when it hooked up with real-money gambling specialist Probability in October 2012, although it's not yet clear if Blackjack Casino will be a real-money product.

Additionally to this, Glu is moving back into the world of third party publishing.

It previously attempted this in early 2011 with its gPartners initiative, which was canned in still mysterious circumstances.

Now, however, Glu reckons it's uniquely positioned to provide a turnkey cross-platform solution for developers looking for global scale on Android, Windows Phone and Amazon Appstore for Android.

Glu says it will deliver distribution scale as well as the advantages available from multiplayer social and server technology from its August 2012 acquisition GameSpy.

It will also help developers in terms of porting and localisation, marketing, potential investment and monetisation expertise.