Tapjoy Launches $5M Fund To Invest In Mobile Game Development In Asia

Mobile ad and monetization platform Tapjoy is announcing a new $5 million fund – the “Tapjoy Asia Fund” – which aims to support development and marketing of free-to-play mobile games on both iOS and Android. The new fund is an extension of the company’s earlier $5 million push from June of last year, which encouraged developers to port their iOS games to Android.

The first fund arrived at a time when Apple had begun cracking down on incentivized downloads – programs which rewarded users with virtual items or coins if they would install another promoted application. At the time, it seemed as if Tapjoy was hoping to kick-start Android development efforts mainly due to Apple’s move to ban iOS apps that used pay-per-install ads. The fund eventually resulted in 155 new apps being developed, the company now claims.

The newly announced Asia Fund will not be solely focused on Android, but will support any developers throughout Asia building free-to-play games on Android or iOS. These developers will have access to working capital, distribution via Tapjoy’s ad network, access to Tapjoy’s Ad Marketplace, Tapjoy’s in-house gaming and virtual economy expertise, consulting and optimization support and real-time reporting.

Tapjoy already has offices in Beijing, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul to help support the developers who apply. The company says it will choose the fund’s recipients based on their gaming experience and talent.

The company now reaches over 20,000 mobile applications and 600 million consumers, and has thousands of developers using its ad-funded payment platform and app discovery marketplace. Tapjoy doesn’t just rely on incentivized installs to attract users today – it also offers users virtual rewards for other actions, like watching videos, subscribing to services and participating in other ads.