Chartboost, the cross-promotion platform for mobile games, just announced to raise US$ 19 million round led by Sequoia with participation from existing investors TransLink Capital and SK Telecom Ventures to accelerate the company’s growth. Chartboost allows game developers to reach new users through cross-promotion and make money from their games.
Along with the funding, the company also claimed that its technology now reaches more than 300 million monthly active devices powering six billion game sessions per month, making it the world’s largest mobile gaming technology platform.
The company is also looking to enhance its presence in China as the Middle Kingdom now is equipped with more opportunities in mobile game field, a recent report showed that last year mobile game segment pulled in RMB 75 million in sales, up 90.6% from a year earlier. The stunning growth rate speaks to an untapped market propelled by the coming of Chinese mobile era and ongoing exploration to mature of Chinese 3G services.
Chinese local startups involved in mobile also caught a whiff of the profitability, from what I heard, Wangdoujia, the iTunes for Android/PC users, and Chukong, a mobile game developer, are on the verge of launching their own similar offerings. Personally, I think Chukong has a nature fit to get hands on mobile game cross-promotion as the company produces and invests into mobile games and has churned out some money-making blockbusters like the Fishing Joy franchises. Getting out something like Chartboost could benefit the company from many aspects – promoting its own titles and sourcing new portfolios would be easier on its own premise.