VoxPop.TV, a site where users can build their own games, make money on them through advertising or sponsorship, and syndicate them to other sites, has brought in $1.5 million in a second round of funding. Based in San Francisco, the platform is tailored to quiz, trivia and prediction games based on happenings in pop culture. It will use the new money to continue developing its offerings and to build up its audience.
When you first go to the site, you’re met with a bevy of recently-added games. A representative mix might include trivia showdown “How Well Do You Know the Hills?”, “Guess the Rapper from their Filmography,” and the “80s Flashback Quiz.” Bragging rights are the specified prize in most of these contests, although a few offer Amazon credits and the like.
VoxPop has reeled in some big names with its development platform. Netflix has embedded a Summer Movie Trivia game created with VoxPop on its site; CNet has sponsored an Apple Trivia Quiz that tests players’ Steve Jobs know-how; and Entertainment Weekly has capitalized with several quizzes on Lost, the Oscars, James Bond and more.
The combination of casual gaming and celebrity gossip seems only natural. At least that was the thinking at investor Hearst Interactive Media, which led the round, joined by past backer True Ventures. Founded in 2006, VoxPop competes with other simple gaming platforms like Arkadium Games, VideoJax and Pangea Media.
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