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By Ezequiel Minaya 

Unity Technologies, a closely watched startup valued at an estimated $3.2 billion, named a new chief financial officer with extensive experience in the fast-growing tech sector.

The videogame technology company said Kim Jabal would be taking on the role, which had been filled for the past five months on an interim basis by Chief Executive John Riccitiello. Ms. Jabal is scheduled to begin in March, according to a company spokeswoman. Unity's previous CFO, Mike Foley, announced his departure from Unity in September.

Ms. Jabal has held high-ranking positions in tech companies including Alphabet Inc.'s Google. She comes to Unity after serving as CFO at website-builder Weebly Inc. While there, she helped orchestrate Weebly's sale to financial-technology company Square Inc. last year.

"She was at Google in a senior executive position as they went from $1 billion to $32 billion in revenue," Mr. Riccitiello said in an interview. "Not that many people have directly experienced that kind of scaling."

CFOs at fast-growing, high-value technology startups often are called upon to help balance rapid growth with maintaining investment in research and development. Public company experience is also prized at maturing startups like Unity that may be considering entering public markets. Mr. Riccitiello declined to comment on Unity's possible IPO plans.

Ms. Jabal's tech background will also make her a valuable member of the executive team at Unity, Mr. Riccitiello added. "The products we build are very technical," he said. "It could be harder for people with a pure business background to get it."

The San Francisco-based company has raised about $600 million, most recently at a valuation of $3.2 billion, according to research firm Lagniappe Labs, publisher of the Prime Unicorn Index.

Unity was launched in 2004 by videogame makers in Denmark who realized their software tools were more valuable than the games they developed.

The company provides a game-development "engine," essentially software that developers use to build their digital worlds and publish on multiple platforms. Unity has invested heavily in virtual reality, hoping to support a wave of development for new VR gaming platforms.

-- Rolfe Winkler contributed to this article.

Write to Ezequiel Minaya at ezequiel.minaya@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 14, 2019 16:51 ET (21:51 GMT)

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