Company already profitable, adds strategic capital to build out groundbreaking social games platform
Boston - Sept 23, 2010 - MocoSpace, the largest social entertainment destination on the mobile web, today announced a $ 3.5 million round of strategic funding from SoftBank Capital. MocoSpace will use the funds to expand its mobile browser-based social gaming offerings and management team. Previous investors in MocoSpace include General Catalyst, Pilot Group and prominent angel investor Michael Dearing.
MocoSpace is the largest entertainment destination on the mobile Internet, with over 14 million users and three billion page views per month. The company, which is already profitable, plans to use this round of funding for the development of its MocoSpace Games platform. The platform will provide game developers with a robust environment and mobile web reach via smartphone browsers, as well as access to the MocoSpace audience - which already plays one million games on the site per month. MocoSpace will be launching its own browser-based mobile social game, and is currently developing partnerships with mobile web game developers to provide a wide range of game titles on its platform.
Vikrant Gandhi of Frost & Sullivan has followed MocoSpace's growth over the years, and describes the company's success: "MocoSpace has demonstrated a rare ability to build a large mobile internet brand and generate profits while appealing to a broad base of consumers. The mobile browser represents the next frontier of social games, and companies like MocoSpace have a great opportunity to lead this nascent market."
As part of the investment, SoftBank Capital's managing partner, Ron Fisher, is joining the company's Board of Directors. As founder of SoftBank Capital, Fisher has over 30 years of experience working with high growth and turnaround technology companies, and serves as a member of the board of directors of SoftBank Corp., Japan, as well as on the boards of several public and private companies, including Desktone, E*Trade Group, GSI Commerce, FooMojo, LiteScape Technologies and Nellymoser, Inc.
"MocoSpace is uniquely positioned for massive growth at the crossroads of powerful trends in mobile, gaming and social, as well as appealing to one of the fastest-growing segments of the U.S. population, the Hispanic market," said Fisher. "Softbank is excited to be an investor. MocoSpace has done a great job building an industry leading, profitable business, and we're excited to help the company broaden its entertainment offerings and innovate in the social games space."
"The chance to work with Ron and the Softbank team was a no-brainer for us. They have a tremendous amount of expertise both here and abroad in all the key parts of our business," says MocoSpace CEO and co-founder Justin Siegel. "I look forward to working with them in the coming years as we continue to expand our business."
About MocoSpace
For a young, multicultural, on-the-go generation, MocoSpace is the destination of choice for making friends, having fun and staying connected. MocoSpace has over 14 million registered users generating over 3 billion pages per month, making it the largest social entertainment destination on the mobile web. MocoSpace is free and available on any web-enabled mobile phone in the world.
Launched in 2005, MocoSpace is backed by General Catalyst and Softbank Capital and is based in Boston, MA. For more information on the company, visit http://www.jnjmobile.com
About SoftBank Capital
SoftBank Capital is an independent venture capital firm focused on early stage businesses addressing ubiquitous, social computing. The firm addresses opportunities that deliver socially-driven content, services and applications across platforms and devices. SoftBank Capital offers entrepreneurs and their management teams valuable experience and resources, including our close association with SoftBank Corp. in Japan. SoftBank Capital has offices in Newton Center, MA, New York City and Buffalo, NY. For more information, visit http://www.softbank.com.
Follow MocoSpace on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mocospace
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