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Kiip
Available inEnglish
OwnerBrian Wong, Kiip, Inc.
URLKiip.me
CommercialYes
Launched2010
Current statusInactive

Kiip was a mobile advertising network.[1][2][3][4] It was co-founded by Brian Wong, Courtney Guertin, and Amadeus Demarzi in 2010. Instead of digital rewards, Kiip provided consumers with tangible rewards, like a bottle of water for every eight miles run by a user.[2] Kiip's rewards platforms was designed for in-app engagement.[5]

History

The Kiip co-founders

Wong, at 19, developed the idea for Kiip on an airplane, when he observed its passengers on their iPads.[6][7] Many passengers were playing games, where the games' advertisements took up screen space that couldn't be used by the game itself.[6] 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.[8][9][10]

In July 2010, Wong teamed with Courtney Guertin and Amadeus Demarzi to found the company,[11] Kiip raised $300,000 in seed capital from True Ventures, Vast Ventures, Paige Craig, Rohan Oza, Keith Belling, Joe Stump, and Chris Redlitz.[12] 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][13][14] In 2016 they received a Series C round of $12 million, for a total of $32 million.[15] In October 2017, Kiip expanded its mobile rewards platform to Amazon’s Fire TV.[16]

Platform

The company said Kiip had about 75 million users per month across about 400 apps by 2013.[17][18][19] The company had offices in San Francisco, New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Vancouver,[20] London, Bogota, and Tokyo.[1][21][22] Apps using Kiip include games and fitness apps[23] such as RunKeeper.[24] The company had also integrated its system with productivity apps, such as Any.do[25] and Finish 2.0.[26] 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.[27] Clients included 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.[28]

The company's platform offered real-world rewards to mobile users.[1] It used developer tool software called Kiip Neon.[29] In 2014, Kiip formed a strategic partnership with IPG to release a mobile usage study.[30]

Recognition

Kiip was listed by Fast Company as one of the 50 Most Innovative Companies in the world in 2013[31] and by Forbes as one of the "4 Hot Online Ad Companies".[32] Kiip was also named to the Dow Jones' FasTech50 List.[33]

Lawsuit settlement, bankruptcy and acquisition

In July 2019, Kiip agreed to a $1 million settlement of a class action lawsuit claiming that Kiip had violated the law by collecting and using person information about users without permission.[34] Kiip admitted no wrongdoing when agreeing to the financial settlement.

On August 26, 2019, Kiip went into foreclosure terminating the majority of its employees with Diablo management group taking over the closure, sale of assets, and liquidation on September 15, 2019.[35][better source needed] NinthDecimal acquired the assets in bankruptcy court with subsequent details revealed in lawsuit filings in The Meet Group vs Kiip case filed in San Francisco court.[36][37][better source needed][38]

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.
  4. ^ Burnett, Rob. A Rush of Dopamine in the Head: Kiip Raises $11M to Monetize Achievements Archived 2012-07-25 at the Wayback Machine. Pando Daily. July 26, 2012.
  5. ^ Valentino-Devries, Jennifer New Approach to Ads in Games. Wall Street Journal. June 24, 2011.
  6. ^ a b Tsotsi, Alexia. Kiip’s Brian Wong On Taking Risks As Young Entrepreneur. TechCrunch. April 12, 2011.
  7. ^ Newman, Kira. Brian Wong to Young Entrepreneurs: “Assume no one gives a shit about you” Archived 2012-06-30 at the Wayback Machine. Tech Cocktail. April 18, 2012.
  8. ^ Kim, Ryan. Kiip Pushes Real Rewards, Not Ads on Mobile Gamers. GigaOM. April 11, 2011.
  9. ^ Building the World’s First Mobile Rewards Network: Brian Wong, 20-Year-Old Founder of Kiip. Sramana Mitra. April 5, 2012.
  10. ^ Rose, Kevin. Foundation 05 // Brian Wong. Foundation. April 2011.
  11. ^ Tsotsis, Alexia. 19 Year Old Kiip Founder Closes 300K Angel Round For Mobile In-Game Ad Startup. Tech Crunch’. October 27, 2010.
  12. ^ McMahan, Ty. Betting Venture Capital On An Unproven 19-Year-Old. Wall Street Journal. August 6, 2010.
  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. ^ "Kiip, a mobile rewards startup, raises $12 million Series C round". TechCrunch. 19 July 2016. Retrieved 2021-04-07.
  16. ^ Ha, Anthony. "Kiip expands its mobile rewards platform to Amazon's Fire TV". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2017-10-27.
  17. ^ Russell, Jon. Kiip strikes it big in Japan after partnering with top media company Yahoo Japan. The Next Web. July 23, 2013.
  18. ^ Shaw, Gillian. UBC grad raises $11M to expand mobile rewards company Kiip Archived 2012-07-23 at the Wayback Machine. Vancouver Sun. July 18, 2012.
  19. ^ Lunden, Ingrid (June 21, 2012). "Kiip, The Mobile Ad Rewards Network, Rumored To Raise Another $8-10M To Conquer Games And Beyond". TechCrunch. The company, which now serves its rewards-based ads into 400 apps across iOS and Android, ...
  20. ^ Shaw, Gillian. Kiip hiring for Vancouver office: Kiip co-founder and UBC grad Brian Wong sees tech talent in his hometown Archived 2013-08-06 at the Wayback Machine. Vancouver Sun. July 24, 2013.
  21. ^ Grant, Rebecca. Kiip raises $11M to reward users for everyday life. VentureBeat. July 17, 2012.
  22. ^ Ryan, Tim. Brands Rewards Your Fitness Achievements With Useful Products. PSFK. April 14, 2012.
  23. ^ Takahashi, Dean. Kiip expands beyond games to rewarding fitness 'moments'. Venture Beat. March 22, 2012.
  24. ^ Shaul, Brandy (August 20, 2014). "RunKeeper Partners with Kiip for Rewarded Workouts". Inside Mobile Apps. Archived from the original on August 25, 2014. Retrieved September 2, 2014.
  25. ^ Olanoff, Drew. Any.DO Integrates Kiip's Reward System To Make Completing To-Do Lists A Daily, And Fun, Habit. TechCrunch. May 26, 2013.
  26. ^ Crook, Jordan. Finish 2.0 Aims To Help Students Buckle Down And Stop Procrastinating. TechCrunch. August 15, 2013.
  27. ^ Ha, Anthony. Kiip Will Power Rewards In Yahoo Japan’s Mobile Apps. TechCrunch. July 22, 2013.
  28. ^ Ong, Josh (June 13, 2013). "Rewards platform Kiip passes 1,000 connected apps as it opens up a self-service option for brands". The Next Web.
  29. ^ "Mobile Rewards Network Kiip Digs in with Devs". 2016-08-31.
  30. ^ Chaey, Christina (2013-01-16). "IPG Media Lab Partners With Mobile Rewards Company Kiip". Fast Company. Retrieved 2021-04-07.
  31. ^ Harrison, Lindsay. Most Innovative Companies 2013. Fast Company”. February 11, 2013.
  32. ^ Taulli, Tom. 4 Hot Online Ad Companies to Put on Your Watch List. Forbes. April 14, 2011.
  33. ^ "Dow Jones' Fast Tech 50 List". Fast Tech. Archived from the original on 15 August 2012. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
  34. ^ "Announcing a Class Action Settlement Involving Kiip, Inc.'s Advertising Platform".
  35. ^ "Gofile". gofile.io. Retrieved 2020-09-24.[dead link]
  36. ^ "Gofile - Free file sharing and storage platform". gofile.io.
  37. ^ Service, Record Inc News. "Case activity for The Meet Group Inc. vs Kiip Inc. on Oct. 31". Northern California Record. Retrieved 2021-04-07.
  38. ^ {{Cite web|url=https://casetext.com/brief/cgc19580436-the-meet-group-inc-vs-kiip-inc-et-al-defendant-ninthdecimal-inc-s-answer-to-complaint
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