SAN MATEO, CA--(Marketwire - June 9, 2008) -
RockYou, a
pioneer in widget development and the leading developer and distributor of
social applications on the social web, announced today it has closed a
Series C funding round of $35 million led by
DCM. Several private investors also
participated in the round.
The funding will enable the company to grow its team, increase its
advertising and publisher offerings, and expand its portfolio of social
applications. Today, RockYou can be found on major social networks,
including MySpace, hi5, Facebook, Bebo, Friendster and more. RockYou's
network reaches 87.5M monthly uniques with 2.7 billion page views. The
company has embraced the
OpenSocial standard and has taken the lead with
over 10 million installs across hi5, MySpace and Orkut.
Business Model & Monetization
Upon explosive growth on the Facebook Platform, RockYou fearlessly and
quickly moved to create the first Publisher and Advertising Network on
Facebook. That decision and willingness to experiment resulted in
establishing the largest social application advertising and distribution
network. RockYou's advertising team has executed customized social
marketing campaigns and distribution partnerships for brands including,
Paramount, New Line Cinema, Sony, CBS and Microsoft, to name a few. The
company has also established key relationships with many of the most
respected interactive advertising and marketing agencies and works closely
with them to develop one-of-a-kind promotional campaigns and to understand
the dynamics of social marketing and advertising methods.
RockYou's evolving advertising offerings sets it apart from other
competitors in the space, who claim to offer better value. The reality is
that RockYou is the only company who has a complete offering that addresses
the complex needs of advertisers, publishers and developers through
integrated, and cross platform campaigns. In the following months RockYou
will be rolling out additional tools and services to address the immediate
needs of brands and marketers looking to have a presence on the social
networks.
As more and more consumers in key youth demographics shift their attention
away from traditional mediums like television and towards the social web
and online social networks, marketers face unprecedented challenges.
Building brand awareness and loyalty becomes increasingly difficult among a
population -- 12-25 year olds -- that is inundated with information yet has
a fleeting attention span. Engagement has become a vital metric, and
RockYou has an advantage of being the first company to develop and engineer
applications dedicated to that demographic.
Quotes:
Lance Tokuda, CEO of RockYou
"RockYou is incredibly proud to announce our funding, and are very pleased
to be able to work with DCM and be a part of their impressive portfolio.
RockYou is entering into a very exciting time both with the applications we
are developing, and also with the expansion of our social advertising
platform."
David Chao, Co-founder and General Partner, DCM
"With the recent surge of worldwide SNS platforms like Facebook, Hi5,
Mixie, Myspace, and Xiaonei worldwide, DCM believes that RockYou will be
the catalyst of this new global ecosystem that delivers next-generation
advertisements through its innovative advertising network and social
applications. With the current momentum, RockYou is positioned to become a
Top 10 Internet property in the world in the near future."
About RockYou
RockYou is the leading innovator, creator and distributor of widgets and
applications on the social web. The company offers customized branding and
advertising opportunities on Facebook and can deploy applications across
any social network, including hi5, MySpace, Bebo and Friendster. RockYou's
advertising platform is the most dynamic way for brands and advertisers to
reach application users. Headquartered in San Mateo, California, RockYou is
funded by DCM, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Partech International and
Sequoia Capital. For more information, please visit
http://rockyou.com/corp/about.php.
About DCM
DCM is a venture capital firm supporting entrepreneurs building world-class
technology companies. The firm's partners manage US$1.6 billion and have
funded leading technology companies around the world including 2Wire,
51jobs, @Motion (Openwave), About.com (The New York Times Co.), All About,
Arroyo (Cisco), Clearwire, Dang Dang, eDreams (TA), Foundry Networks,
HireRight, Internap, IPivot (Intel), JC, Neopath Networks (Cisco), Oak
pacific Inc (Xiaonei.com, Mop.com), Neutral Tandem, nQuire (Siebel), PGP
Corporation, Recourse Technologies (Symantec), Sigmatel, SMIC, Sling Media
(EchoStar), VanceInfo, and Vimicro. DCM offers hands-on operational
guidance and access to an extensive network of resources, including close
relationships with many of the Pacific Rim's leading companies and
investors. For more information, please visit DCM's website at
www.dcm.com.
Links
RockYou
http://rockyou.com
RockYou Ad Network
https://www.rockyouads.com/ams/partner/publisher/index.php
RockYou social applications (Facebook, hi5, Bebo, and Friendster):
SuperWall
Likeness
HugMe
SuperFive
Vampires
Xme
Recently Launched on MySpace:
TruthBox
SuperComments
SuperFriends
SuperHug
Horoscopes
Likeness
Slideshows
Contact Information: Media Inquiries:
Vanessa Camones, theMIX agency for RockYou
415.412.2856
