Kiip announced a renewal of its $100,000 Build Fund to inspire mobile app developers to create titles for its mobile-rewards network.

Source: Dean Takahashi

Kiip chief executive Brian Wong.

The mobile-rewards firm will dole out the new 2013 Creation Build Fund to 10 winning indie developers, each of whom will receive $10,000 in cash and $5,000 in services, said chief executive Brian Wong in an interview with GamesBeat. Kiip has built a fast-growing platform that gives a user an instant reward whenever he or she reaches a key milestone in a game or mobile app. Most of the rewards have been given out in games, but Kiip is expanding to other kinds of apps too.

Under the program, Pepsi’s Propel brand will sponsor the fitness and health portion of the fund. In that section, Kiip will encourage companies to create apps that give rewards to people for achieving their fitness and health goals. The brand’s goal is to kickstart rewards that motivate people to become healthier.

The theme of the fund for this year is “creation,” where an app can lead to the creation of a brand-new category. Kiip wants developers to take risks on apps that challenge assumptions and make huge leaps in imagination.

“We’ve really upped the ante on mentors this year,” Wong said.

As part of the rewards, Kiip will connect developers to mentors including Phill Ryu, creator of Clear and MacHeist; Jon Jordan of Pocket Gamer; Phil Black of True Ventures; Adam D’Augelli, True Ventures; Lee Linden, Facebook Gifts (previously Tapjoy and Karma); Lars Leckie, Hummer Winblad Venture Partners; Kevin Talbot, Relay Ventures; Mario Wynands, PikPok Games; Scott Kveton, Urban Airship; Matt Van Horn, Path; Matt Hunter, Jawbone; Derek van Vliet, Get Set Games; Markus Kassulke, HandyGames; and Robert Kwok, Crittercism.

“The Kiip Build Fund is a fantastic experience for independent developers,” said Michael Leip, the CEO and founder of Lab 927, a 2012 Build Fund winner. “Aside from the obvious monetary benefit, you gain access to a great group of high-level peers and exceptional mentors who are pillars of the industry. The Build Fund holds the potential to take a small indie company from good to great.”

Partners who will donate services include Parse, Urban Airship, Amazon Web Services, Crittercism and Localytics. More than 800 games and apps use Kiip’s platform, and more than 70 consumer brands provide rewards. Kiip says a study showed that Kiip-enabled apps more than double the length of a typical user session and lead users to open the app 31 percent more. The brand partners include (formerly Kraft Foods), Pepsi, McDonald’s, American Apparel, Proctor & Gamble, Wrigley, 7-Eleven, Sony Music, Best Buy, Amazon, and Verizon.

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July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Does advertising always have to operate within a pay to play model? PaeDae doesn’t think so, as it’s just announced a new platform called Bartr that developer can use to start advertising their mobile apps or games without spending a dime.

Bartr operates on a series of credits. Developers that run ads within their own apps and mobile games will earn credits, and they can use these to advertise in other applications at a targeted demographic.

“The great thing about Bartr is that we’re able to transform advertising into a resource for developers, rather than just another cost of marketing,” PaeDae cofounder and CEO Rob Emrich said in an interview with VentureBeat.

Bartr works off of the idea that developers need a high volume of people using their apps before they can really start making money. The problem with most advertising models is that you have to spend a lot to get the word out about your application or mobile game and hope that it brings in new users. If it doesn’t, then you’ve spent a lot of money and have nothing to show for it. Bartr removes the need to spend lots of money just to generate new users.

The new Bartr service is part of PaeDae’s overall strategy to create a deeper relationships with developers, which will hopefully entice them into using the startup’s core rewards/prize business. PaeDae makes money when advertisers (brands and businesses) pay to offer rewards available to users of mobile- and web-based games. PaeDae shares the revenue from these deals with developers. The reward service are all white-label, so it adds value to the app, providing something unique to its customers. The startup’s clients include Amazon, 1-800 Flowers, P&G, and StyleMint.

“[With Bartr], we’re starting with games, because that’s what we know,” PaeDae co-founder and VP of business development Sam Kim told me. He added that Bartr is set up to enable developers of all applications to participate, but that initially game developers would have a strong presence.

Right now it’s only available on iOS apps, but support for Android should roll out in the need future. Bartr itself won’t launch until March, but developers can download the SDK now via PaeDae’s website.

Founded in 2012, the Santa Monica, Calif.-based startup has raised over $1 million in seed funding and is seeking to raise a Series A round of funding in late 2013. PaeDae, which has 12 employees, faces competition from Kiip and a handful of others.

Play games. Win rewards. That simple slogan has created a big business for Kiip, which offers rewards for gamers on mobile devices at the moment of an achievement.

And that, in turn, has enabled Kiip to raise money from Interpublic, a global advertising holding company. The funding is part of an $11 million round that the company raised in December. Other investors include Relay Ventures, Hummer Winblad, True Ventures, and Digital Garage. But Kiip didn’t have approval to talk about Interpublic, known as IPG, until today.

San Francisco-based Kiip has also entered into a strategic partnership with IPG, whose holdings include the IPG Media Lab (which creates experimental advertisements) and IPG Media Brands, which will introduce top-tier marketers to Kiip, chief executive Brian Wong (pictured right, in the center) told GamesBeat. IPG manages $35 billion in global media spending for its clients.

“IPG is one of the big four firms that control most of the advertising in the world,” said Wong. “We think this will accelerate our growth.”

Kiip gives a reward such as a $5 Starbucks digital coupon when someone achieves a milestone in a game. The company rewards such moments with real-world rewards that are sponsored by big brands. That helps the brands get in touch with the mobile generation, a key demographic group that has grown up ignoring ads.

Kiip, however, enables monetization in a way that augments quality content, said Wong. Partner brands include American Apparel, Best Buy, Dr Pepper, McDonald’s, Carl’s Jr., Fandango, Intuit, Kraft (Mondelēz), Pepsi, P&G, and Sony Music. And more than 670 iOS and Android apps now use Kiip.

“The mobile engagement model is winning, and that’s good for us,” said Wong.

“IPG is committed to developing emerging technology, talent, and innovation and bringing new solutions to our clients,” said Michael I. Roth, the chairman and CEO of Interpublic. “IPG Mediabrands and the IPG Media Lab identified Kiip as a key player in the increasingly important mobile market, with a thoughtful and effective model that connects brands with the modern consumer. It’s always exciting when we can help our clients find new pathways to consumer engagement.”

The IPG Media Lab will work closely with Kiip to build an even bigger business. IPG’s brands and ad agencies include Draftfcb, FutureBrand, GolinHarris International, Huge, Initiative, Jack Morton Worldwide, Lowe and Partners, Magna Global, McCann, Momentum, MRM Worldwide, Octagon, R/GA, UM, and Weber Shandwick.

Wong founded Kiip in 2010 with Courtney Guertin (pictured right) and Amadeus DeMarz (pictured left). In 2012, Wong said that the company had rewarded more than 1 billion “moments” in games. In the last 30 days, the company has tracked 300 million moments. And Wong said that one client last year saw 56 percent of its gamers redeem a mobile reward.

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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With Kiip, the system identifies “moments” of achievement within a game or app. It then shows you a banner ad at the moment of the achievement. If you click on it, you can claim a reward for free stuff, such as a Starbucks gift card, from an advertiser. Now Kiip is expanding its reach for new kinds of advertising opportunities for its partners.

Brian Wong, the chief executive of San Francisco-based Kiip, said in an interview that it has redefined its growth by asking itself questions over the last two years. At first, it asked, “Why do just physical rewards?” And it added new virtual rewards that you could claim directly on your mobile device. That enabled Kiip to enter the mobile rewards market and start growing.

Then it asked, “Why just games?” and expanded its functionality to other apps. And now it is asking, “Why just mobile?” And so it is expanding beyond mobile platforms.

Wong said that HTML5 support is on the way and that should open up new opportunities to go beyond mobile devices to just about any web platform.

“This is where it gets super-exciting,” Wong said. “We realized that participating in rewards and creating them was not easy in the way that we executed them.

It will do so with “spot rewards,” where an advertiser can offer a reward for any reason. It doesn’t matter if you have reached an achievement in a game or not. Advertisers can reward you at particular “moments,” regardless of whether that is an achievement or leaderboard change.

“The idea is to get Kiip everywhere,” Wong said. “We’ll integrate with any platform with web support. Anything can be a moment for a reward.”

And that should generate more revenue for the developers that use Kiip and expand the available inventory for advertisers who want to reach users. Those include food-related apps and fitness apps. Utility apps are on the way as well. The API is now available for developers to integrate into their apps.

Kiip has raised $15 million to date.

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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