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Kiip

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Kiip
Available inEnglish
OwnerBrian Wong
URLKiip.me
CommercialYes
Current statusActive

Kiip is a mobile advertising network.[1][2][3][4] It was co-founded by Brian Wong, Courtney Guertin, and Amadeus Demarzi in 2010.

History

The Kiip co-founders

Wong developed the idea for Kiip on an airplane, when he observed its passengers on their iPads.[5][6] Many passengers were playing games, where the games' advertisements took up screen space that couldn't be used by the game itself.[5] Wong hypothesized that instead, games could leverage moments of achievement—such as level ups and high scores—with a rewards program where advertisers could make consumer offers.[7][8][9]

In July 2010, Wong teamed with Courtney Guertin and Amadeus Demarzi to found the company,[10] Kiip raised $300,000 in seed capital from True Ventures, Vast Ventures, Paige Craig, Rohan Oza, Keith Belling, Joe Stump, and Chris Redlitz.[11] In subsequent A and B rounds, Kiip has raised a total of $15.4 million from investors including Relay Ventures, Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, Interpublic Group, American Express Ventures, Digital Garage, Crosslink Capital, True Ventures, Venture51, Transmedia Capital, and Verizon Ventures.[1][12][13][14]

Kiip is currently active on about 1,100 apps played on 75 million devices.[15][16][17] The company has offices in San Francisco, New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Vancouver,[18] London, Bogota, and Tokyo.[1][19][20] Apps using Kiip include games and fitness apps[21] such as RunKeeper.[22] The company has also integrated with productivity apps, such as Any.do[23] and Finish 2.0.[24] Kiip is also integrated with the Yahoo! Japan app, which was the first time Yahoo! Japan has integrated a third-party service into its app.[25] Clients include 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.[26]

Description

The company's platform integrates real-world rewards to mobile users.[1] Instead of digital rewards, Kiip provides consumers with tangible rewards, like a bottle of water for every eight miles run by a user.[2] Kiip’s rewards platforms is designed for in-game engagement.[27][28] Kiip was listed by Fast Company as one of the 50 Most Innovative Companies in the world in 2013[29] and by Forbes as one of the "4 Hot Online Ad Companies".[30] Kiip was also named to the Dow Jones' FasTech50 List.[31]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Edwards, Jim. This 21-year-old May Have Cracked the Future of Mobile Advertising. BusinessInsider. May 21, 2012.
  2. ^ a b 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. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  4. ^ Burnett, Rob. A Rush of Dopamine in the Head: Kiip Raises $11M to Monetize Achievements. Pando Daily. July 26, 2012.
  5. ^ a b Tsotsi, Alexia. Kiip’s Brian Wong On Taking Risks As Young Entrepreneur. TechCrunch. April 12, 2011.
  6. ^ Newman, Kira. Brian Wong to Young Entrepreneurs: “Assume no one gives a shit about you”. Tech Cocktail. April 18, 2012.
  7. ^ Kim, Ryan. Kiip Pushes Real Rewards, Not Ads on Mobile Gamers. GigaOM. April 11, 2011.
  8. ^ Building the World’s First Mobile Rewards Network: Brian Wong, 20-Year-Old Founder of Kiip. Sramana Mitra. April 5, 2012.
  9. ^ Rose, Kevin. Foundation 05 // Brian Wong. Foundation. April 2011.
  10. ^ Tsotsis, Alexia. 19 Year Old Kiip Founder Closes 300K Angel Round For Mobile In-Game Ad Startup. Tech Crunch’. October 27, 2010.
  11. ^ McMahan, Ty. Betting Venture Capital On An Unproven 19-Year-Old. Wall Street Journal. August 6, 2010.
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference Xconomy was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ Thomas, Owen. Kiip Raises $11 Million To Erase Advertisers' Frowns. Business Insider. July 17, 2012.
  14. ^ 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.
  15. ^ Russell, Jon. Kiip strikes it big in Japan after partnering with top media company Yahoo Japan. The Next Web. July 23, 2013.
  16. ^ Shaw, Gillian. UBC grad raises $11M to expand mobile rewards company Kiip. Vancouver Sun. July 18, 2012.
  17. ^ Lunden, Ingrid. Kiip, The Mobile Ad Rewards Network, Rumored To Raise Another $8-10M To Conquer Games And Beyond. TechCrunch’. June 21, 2012.
  18. ^ 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.
  19. ^ Grant, Rebecca. Kiip raises $11M to reward users for everyday life. VentureBeat. July 17, 2012.
  20. ^ Ryan, Tim. Brands Rewards Your Fitness Achievements With Useful Products. PSFK. April 14, 2012.
  21. ^ Takahashi, Dean. Kiip expands beyond games to rewarding fitness “moments”. Venture Beat. March 22, 2012.
  22. ^ Shaul, Brandy (August 20, 2014). "RunKeeper Partners with Kiip for Rewarded Workouts". Inside Mobile Apps.
  23. ^ Olanoff, Drew. Any.DO Integrates Kiip’s Reward System To Make Completing To-Do Lists A Daily, And Fun, Habit. TechCrunch. May 26, 2013.
  24. ^ Crook, Jordan. Finish 2.0 Aims To Help Students Buckle Down And Stop Procrastinating. TechCrunch. August 15, 2013.
  25. ^ Ha, Anthony. Kiip Will Power Rewards In Yahoo Japan’s Mobile Apps. TechCrunch. July 22, 2013.
  26. ^ 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.
  27. ^ Cite error: The named reference TechCrunch was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  28. ^ Valentino-Devries, Jennifer New Approach to Ads in Games. Wall Street Journal. June 24, 2011.
  29. ^ Harrison, Lindsay. Most Innovative Companies 2013. Fast Company”. February 11, 2013.
  30. ^ Taulli, Tom. 4 Hot Online Ad Companies to Put on Your Watch List. Forbes. April 14, 2011.
  31. ^ "Dow Jones' Fast Tech 50 List". Fast Tech. Retrieved 29 June 2012.

External links