San Francisco-based skyrockit [1], an award-winning mobile entertainment studio, has raised USD 2.6 million in new funding to expand the company’s products and services, hire key talent, and solidify its position as a global innovator in the mobile entertainment space.
[2]The recent round of funding was led by investor Intel Capital [3], with participation from Asuka DBJ Partners [4], and individual investor Mark Kingdon. Intel Capital’s Marc Yi, Asuka DBJ’s Toshihiro Toyoshima and Kingdon have all joined the skyrockit’s Board of Directors.
The company plans to enhance its existing entertainment products and services, while also focusing on the development of new original intellectual property. skyrockit’s customers include top-tier mobile carriers, mobile handset manufacturers, media companies, brands and consumers.
The company’s portfolio of mobile products includes the award-winning Virtual Zippo Lighter, with more than 16 million users worldwide, and ROMPLR, its patent-pending music remix platform. With more than 1.1 million users, ROMPLR has become the number one music remix application across iPhone and Nokia handsets, and has been the centerpiece of massively successful campaigns for brands such as vitaminwater. ROMPLR is also the only remix application that has secured global deals with major record labels and publishers and is live in more than 95 countries.
“In today’s world of pervasive connectivity, where anytime, anywhere content on multiple platforms is in high demand, we see a need for creative development that is currently unmet,” says Yi, Intel Capital’s managing director. “skyrockit is uniquely positioned to take advantage of these digital content opportunities to evolve into the mobile studio of the future.”
skyrockit will continue to work with brands and agencies as a creative studio specializing in delivering scalable, results-driven mobile products and campaigns that marry entertainment, advertising and technology. The company has developed strong relationships with numerous brands, producing original entertainment that has ignited online and mobile fan engagement, delivering breakthrough results.
The company’s campaigns, such as the ‘Postcards from the future’ app for Intel, and NBC [5]’s ‘The Biggest Loser BlackBerry app, have all generated strong audience response built around original mobile experiences.
Over the past eight years, the company’s initiatives have resulted in more than $250m in revenue for its partners and over 100 million pieces of content enjoyed worldwide. Headquartered in San Francisco, CA, skyrockit has its principal backing from Intel capital.