The makers of the hit smartphone game ‘Angry Birds’ raised $42 from investors to expand the brand and create more games.

Finnish game developer Rovio is a long way from bankruptcy which it faced before launching the popular ‘Angry Birds’ game. It has secured $42 million from Accel Partners who are also the venture capital investors for Facebook, Groupon and Skype, says The Telegraph. The other part of the investment was made by Zennstroem’s venture capital firm Atomico Ventures and by angel investor Felicis Ventures. The money will help Rovio expand to other markets including mobile and social platforms, and make ‘Angry Birds’ a full-fledged entertainment brand just like Disney’s Pixar did with the characters from Toy Story.

“This investment will give Rovio wings,” Zennstroem told Reuters. “Angry Birds is one of the fastest-growing online products I’ve seen, growing even faster than Skype, and the company has done a brilliant job of extending it across different platforms and merchandise.”

‘Angry Birds’ in which players help birds squash pigs who have stolen their eggs using slingshots, has become increasingly popular, boasting 40 million active monthly users worldwide. The game was originally released for Apple’s App store in December 2009, is available for Apple phones and smartphones using Android OS platforms.

Rovio is hoping to get more from the investors than just money. The company is hoping for strategic advice and guidance as well as cash. “These are people who have basically been there several times, building billion dollar companies. And the support they can give us is therefore really important,” Mikael Hed, Rovio’s co-founder and chief executive, according to the Wall Street Journal.

In the meantime, ‘Angry Birds’ has released a St. Patrick’s Day version of the game with 15 levels that  feature “pigs in Leprechaun hats”, a “delightful Celtic soundtrack” and levels that come alive with “cloverleaves” and “pots of gold” reports BBC News.