Cambridge-based in-app gifting platform giftgaming has raised $154,000 via the Seedrs platform to accelerate the growth of the company.
The platform plugs into the Unity, Marmalade, HTML5 and Android platforms so developers can enable brands to offer in-game gifts, including virtual currency, power-ups and coupons.
“Many of our 180 investors on Seedrs probably play games, or have kids who play games, and so experience the pain we’re solving: intrusive in-game ads,” said giftgaming founder and CEO Nick Hatter. “We’ve got the advertisers, we’ve got the publishers. And we’re using a known revenue generating mechanism: affiliate networks. Now we’re scaling up.
“The fundamental limitation of competitors who do moment-based or achievement-based rewards is in their nature: they’re based on moments and can be too dependent on player skill. And given the average mobile gaming session is only 6.8 minutes, there’s a hard limit on the number of incentivised video ads a player can watch in one session. So giftgaming provides a non-intrusive revenue stream for game developers and publishers to make up for these flaws.”
“Their first client was the Brazilian game studio Smyowl with their game Cave Coaster. London-based Shedworks will be launching giftgaming in their new Cloud Critters game.
The company, run by 23-year-old entrepreneur Hatter, has now raised more than $228,000, with support from Accelerate Cambridge.