Prime Ventures invests in AppLift
AppLift

Helping publishers and affiliates monetize their traffic is a promising business.

AppLift, the Berlin-based mobile games marketing startup has recently secured a 10 million Euro early stage investment from Prime Ventures. Both the amount and the speed, at which the deal was closed (5 weeks), indicate the great potential perceived in AppLift by the investors.

“We were impressed by their technology and entrepreneurship. They are ahead in the fast growing mobile games market,” says Prime Ventures founder Sake Bosch about AppLift.

The company was founded in August 2012 by games distribution incubator HitFox Group and a couple of professionals. As the first marketing and user acquisition platform that serves solely the mobile gaming industry, AppLift helps mobile games companies monetize their traffic by focusing not only on acquiring players, but also on tracking and optimizing customer lifetime value.

They monitor and evaluate data on retention, virality and even things like in-app purchases. This in turn allows publishers to determine which sources (e.g. affiliates) provide the highest quality users.

While the bulk of publishers release mobile arcade games, adventure games, puzzles and strategy, mobile gambling is also a growing segment.

Although “traditional” mobile casinos are mere extensions of casino sites, there is a growing number of them that have no such web affiliation. Indeed, as smartphones and tablets become the norm, purely mobile gambling, with no associated websites, may also become standard. Just as any other mobile game, these on-the-go gambling venues are in great need of tools that help them get the highest quality traffic. AppLift is therefore filling a cleverly identified niche.

Affiliates are also taking notice, since their revenue depends on directing the right kind of gamers to the right games, and AppLift’s technology assists them in that effort, for both Android and iPhone games.

Having over 500 media partners and over 80 mobile game publishers on board, the startup has made a strong entry in the market, and it is not about to stop. In fact, AppLift and HitFox will use the money received not only to hire more engineers and bizdev specialists, but also to expand beyond current offices in US, Korea and France.