American Express will take a stake in 22-year-old Brian Wong’s mobile adtech company, Kiip, the company tells us. The terms were not disclosed.
It’s another big milestone for Kiip, which has also taken investment from Interpublic Group, the ad agency holding company, in addition to the usual startup funding from venture capitalist sources.
Kiip’s mobile ads differ from everyone else’s in that they reward app users with discounts, coupons or free product, either completing levels in games or for achieving goals or milestones in non-game apps.
Kiip has taken $15.3 million in funding including the Interpublic stake, and Wong says 2013 revenue will be somewhere in the eight-figure range. The San Francisco company has 55 employees, including a small sales team in New York and other offices in Chicago, London, Bogota, Vancouver, and Japan.
Here’s Wong’s announcement of the Amex agreement:
Every once in awhile you come across partnerships and collaboration opportunities that just make sense. At Kiip, we’ve had a history of working with great strategics and pushing amazing results. Whether it be with existing investors Verizon and their developer community or IPG and its Mediabrands division, Kiip’s ecosystem of investors, developers, brands, and consumers becomes stronger with every partnership.
With Kiip approaching its 3rd anniversary, and celebrating a series of wins, we are excited to announce our latest: an investment from American Express Ventures. They’ll be a part of our incredible roster of strategic investors and I am confident that our ecosystem will become even stronger as a result.
As Kiip expands into more verticals, becoming even more integrated into peoples’ lives beyond gaming, we have evolved beyond media and advertising into a company that builds value into every moment.
We’re excited to celebrate with Amex, as one of the most recent investments under their newly formed venture group. I also wanted to take a moment to highlight Harshul Sanghi, the man at the helm of the group based in Silicon Valley. I’ve had the pleasure of working with Harshul over the past year, and I am extremely supportive of his mission in the venture ecosystem. Amex’s strategic investment model is a unique one that supports entrepreneurs and builds the right connections at the right time between both parties.
Stay tuned for more to come!
