Kiip

Kiip
Web address Kiip.me
Commercial? Yes
Available in English
Owner Brian Wong
Launched 2010
Current status Active

Kiip is a mobile advertising network that enables brands and companies to prompt consumers for commercial offers on virtual achievements.[1][2][3][4] Kiip was co-founded by Brian Wong, Courtney Guertin and Amadeus Demarzi in 2010 and has received $15.4 million in total funding to date from Relay Ventures, Interpublic Group, Hummer Winblad, American Express Ventures,[5] Digital Garage,[6] True Ventures, Verizon Ventures, CrossLink Capital and others.[7][8][9]

History

Beginnings

Wong received the initial inspiration for Kiip on an airplane as he observed his fellow passengers on their iPads.[10][11] He noticed that many passengers were playing games, and felt that the games' advertisements took up screen space without adding any real value.[10] Wong wanted to leverage key moments of achievement—such as level ups and high scores—with a targeted, relevant rewards program that enabled brands to reach consumers when they were most engaged.[12][13][14]

In July 2010, Wong teamed with his fellow former Digg employees Courtney Guertin and their mutual friend Amadeus Demarzi to found Kiip.[15] Kiip raised $300,000 in seed capital from True Ventures, Vast Ventures, Paige Craig, Rohan Oza, Keith Belling, Joe Stump, and Chris Redlitz.[16] In subsequent A and B rounds, Kiip has raised a combined $15.4 million in from Relay Ventures, Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, Interpublic Group, American Express Ventures, Digital Garage, Crosslink Capital, True Ventures, Venture51, Transmedia Capital, Verizon Ventures, and others.[1][9][17][18] At the age of 19, Wong became the second youngest company leader to ever receive funding from a venture capital firm.[16][19] Nick D'Aloisio currently holds the title for youngest person to receive venture capital funding at the age of 15.

Growth

The Kiip co-founders

Kiip is currently active on more than 1,100 apps played on 75[20] million devices, sends out reward notices for over 500 million moments monthly, and gives out 11 rewards per second.[21][22] The company has offices in San Francisco, New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Vancouver,[23] London, Bogota and Tokyo.[1][24][25]

Kiip is increasingly expanding beyond mobile games into mobile fitness apps like MapMyRun, Nexercise, LoloFit, Gym-Pact and others.[26] In August 2014, Kiip announced a partnership with RunKeeper to reward users' workouts with fitness-based, healthy rewards and sponsored song downloads.[27] The company has also integrated with productivity apps, including Any.do[28] and Finish 2.0.[29] Kiip is also integrated with the Yahoo! Japan app, the first time Yahoo! Japan has integrated a third-party service into its app.[30]

The company has established strategic partnerships with more than 115 major brands, including 7-Eleven, Amazon, American Apparel, Campbell’s, Ford, Hasbro, Macy’s, McDonald’s, Mondelēz International (formerly Kraft Foods), Pepsi, Procter & Gamble, Sony Music, Unilever, Verizon and Wrigley.[31]

For two years running, Kiip has held the Build Fund, a contest for independent developers to receive $10,000 in cash and $5,000 in services from sponsors.[32] Kiip received over 300 applications for the contest in 2013.[33]

Description

The company's platform integrates real-world rewards to mobile users on both iOS and Android.[1] Instead of digital rewards, Kiip provides consumers with tangible rewards from premium brands and companies. As an example, a free bottle of Propel Fitness Water is offered by Pepsi inside the Nexercise and Sworkit apps for every eight miles run by a user.[2]

The 'Achievement Moment'

Kiip’s rewards platforms is designed for in-game engagement, and allows brands and companies to reward a mobile gamer at the "achievement moment."[8][34] Wong states that Kiip "baked into our model the ability for a brand to reciprocate in these 'moments' so that a consumer feels appreciated in that instance where they’ve actively accomplished something. Whether it be the 10-mile run they just tracked on Nexercise, or the 1-million-point high score they hit—the brand can participate in that 'moment' while enabling someone to choose to engage with them if they wish, but with a reward."[2]

Kiip has been listed by Fast Company as one of the 50 Most Innovative Companies in the world in 2013[35] and by Forbes as one of the 4 Hot Online Ad Companies to Put on Your Watch List.[36] Kiip was also named to the Dow Jones' FasTech50 List[37]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Edwards, Jim. This 21-year-old May Have Cracked the Future of Mobile Advertising. BusinessInsider. May 21, 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 Holiday, Ryan. Online Advertisings Greatest Missed Opportunity? Kiip.Me Founder Brian Wong Answers. Forbes. April 25, 2012.
  3. ↑ Tsotsis, Alexia (March 9, 2012). "Kiip: A Win-Win for App Developers and Advertisers". Entrepreneur.
  4. ↑ Burnett, Rob. A Rush of Dopamine in the Head: Kiip Raises $11M to Monetize Achievements. Pando Daily. July 26, 2012.
  5. ↑ Ha, Anthony. Mobile Rewards Startup Kiip Announces Strategic Investment From American Express Ventures. TechCrunch. August 15, 2013.
  6. ↑ Stampler, Laura. 21-Year-Old Mobile Genius Partners With The Company That Brought Twitter To Japan. Business Insider. September 25, 2013.
  7. ↑ Geron, Tomio. Kiip Raises $11 Million To Expand Real-World Rewards To Mobile Apps. Forbes. July 16, 2012.
  8. 1 2 Tsotsis, Alexia. Kiip is an entirely new mobile ad model: real life rewards for in-game achievements. TechCrunch. April 10, 2011.
  9. 1 2 Roush, Wade. Kiip Keeps $4M. Xconomy. April 6, 2011.
  10. 1 2 Tsotsi, Alexia. Kiip’s Brian Wong On Taking Risks As Young Entrepreneur. TechCrunch. April 12, 2011.
  11. ↑ Newman, Kira. Brian Wong to Young Entrepreneurs: “Assume no one gives a shit about you”. Tech Cocktail. April 18, 2012.
  12. ↑ Kim, Ryan. Kiip Pushes Real Rewards, Not Ads on Mobile Gamers. GigaOM. April 11, 2011.
  13. ↑ Building the World’s First Mobile Rewards Network: Brian Wong, 20-Year-Old Founder of Kiip. Sramana Mitra. April 5, 2012.
  14. ↑ Rose, Kevin. Foundation 05 // Brian Wong. Foundation. April 2011.
  15. ↑ Tsotsis, Alexia. 19 Year Old Kiip Founder Closes 300K Angel Round For Mobile In-Game Ad Startup. Tech Crunch’. October 27, 2010.
  16. 1 2 McMahan, Ty. Betting Venture Capital On An Unproven 19-Year-Old. Wall Street Journal. August 6, 2010.
  17. ↑ Thomas, Owen. Kiip Raises $11 Million To Erase Advertisers' Frowns. Business Insider. July 17, 2012.
  18. ↑ Ha, Anthony. Couldn't make the 30 million-plus changeMobile Rewards Network Kiip Raises $11M Led By Relay Ventures, Plans Its Own ‘Kiipsake’ App. TechCrunch. July 17, 2012.
  19. ↑ Arrington, Michael. True Ventures Invests In 19 Year Old Entrepreneur Brian Wong. Tech Crunch’. August 3, 2010.
  20. ↑ Russell, Jon. Kiip strikes it big in Japan after partnering with top media company Yahoo Japan. The Next Web. July 23, 2013.
  21. ↑ Shaw, Gillian. UBC grad raises $11M to expand mobile rewards company Kiip. Vancouver Sun. July 18, 2012.
  22. ↑ Lunden, Ingrid. Kiip, The Mobile Ad Rewards Network, Rumored To Raise Another $8-10M To Conquer Games And Beyond. TechCrunch’. June 21, 2012.
  23. ↑ Shaw, Gillian. Kiip hiring for Vancouver office: Kiip co-founder and UBC grad Brian Wong sees tech talent in his hometown. Vancouver Sun. July 24, 2013.
  24. ↑ Grant, Rebecca. Kiip raises $11M to reward users for everyday life. VentureBeat. July 17, 2012.
  25. ↑ Ryan, Tim. Brands Rewards Your Fitness Achievements With Useful Products. PSFK. April 14, 2012.
  26. ↑ Takahashi, Dean. Kiip expands beyond games to rewarding fitness “moments”. Venture Beat. March 22, 2012.
  27. ↑ Shaul, Brandy (August 20, 2014). "RunKeeper Partners with Kiip for Rewarded Workouts". Inside Mobile Apps.
  28. ↑ Olanoff, Drew. Any.DO Integrates Kiip’s Reward System To Make Completing To-Do Lists A Daily, And Fun, Habit. TechCrunch. May 26, 2013.
  29. ↑ Crook, Jordan. Finish 2.0 Aims To Help Students Buckle Down And Stop Procrastinating. TechCrunch. August 15, 2013.
  30. ↑ Ha, Anthony. Kiip Will Power Rewards In Yahoo Japan’s Mobile Apps. TechCrunch. July 22, 2013.
  31. ↑ Ong, Josh. Rewards platform Kiip passes 1,000 connected apps as it opens up a self-service option for brands. The Next Web. June 13, 2013.
  32. ↑ Ha, Anthony. Mobile Rewards Startup Kiip Launches Its Second $100K ‘Build Fund’ With Sponsorship From Pepsi. TechCrunch. March 21, 2013.
  33. ↑ Ha, Anthony. Mobile rewards startup Kiip announces winners of $100,000 2013 Build Fund. The Next Web. August 8, 2013.
  34. ↑ Valentino-Devries, Jennifer New Approach to Ads in Games. Wall Street Journal. June 24, 2011.
  35. ↑ Harrison, Lindsay. Most Innovative Companies 2013. Fast Company”. February 11, 2013.
  36. ↑ Taulli, Tom. 4 Hot Online Ad Companies to Put on Your Watch List. Forbes. April 14, 2011.
  37. ↑ "Dow Jones' Fast Tech 50 List". Fast Tech. Retrieved 29 June 2012.

External links

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