Greystripe, the company that acts as a broker and distributor for ad-supported mobile games, announced that it has raised $8.9 million in a Series B round of funding. The round was led by Steamboat Ventures, and included previous investors Monitor Ventures and Incubic Venture Capital. This brings its total amount raised to $10.1 million.
Greystripe provides a platform for anyone to create graphic ads to be wrapped around mobile games, which are viewed by users on their mobile devices. Greystripe offers various sizes and options for ads created, and also has an affiliate program for those looking to distribute ads throughout Greystripe's entire network. Advertisers determine the bid price for their ads. The recent funding will go towards building the firm and expanding to European and Asian markets. Existing advertising partners include GP Shopper, Zagat Survey and Moderati, while game publishing partners include Rovio, Handy Games and Konami.
The big companies are all stepping up their mobile advertising investments as well, with AOL acquiring Third Screen Media's mobile ad platform, and Microsoft taking in ScreenTonic. Others in the mobile game arena are Frengo and Hovr.