PapayaMobile Raises $4 Million in Series A Funding

PapayaMobile, a mobile social networking and gaming company with over 3.5 million global users, today announced that it has closed a $4 million round of funding led by global VC firm DCM. PapayaMobile provides third party developers with an open-API, cross-platform mobile social networking service (SNS) focusing on social games and virtual goods. The company is already profitable, and the new round of funding will be used to help it increase its developer community, further develop its social and gaming mobile applications, and expand the management team.

"PapayaMobile uniquely intersects two of the hottest growth sectors today: mobile gaming and social networking,” said DCM General Partner, Hurst Lin. "Because Android provides the most open environment today, PapayaMobile’s platform uniquely offers game developers instant access to users and monetization that can jumpstart their viral growth."

Third party developers can currently develop directly on PapayaMobile’s SNS platform or utilize Papaya Offer SDK, an advertising SDK for Android devices which the company today announced. Through its Social SDK and Offer SDK, advertisers can acquire a massive user base through the SNS platform or a pay-per-install model, while Android application developers can make extra money which could increase their revenue by up to 50%.

“The Android platform is the fastest growing mobile platform with a promising international growth curve ahead of it, but it currently lacks an effective distribution channel for application developers,” said PapayaMobile CEO and Co-founder, Si Shen. “Papaya provides a solution to this with its set of developer tools that make it easy to access our massive user base and start making money quickly. As we expand our products and services to a global scale, we look forward to partnering with our investment partners at DCM who bring a wealth of global gaming experience.”

About PapayaMobile

Based in Beijing and Silicon Valley, PapayaMobile was founded in 2008 by Si Shen and Wenjie Qian with the aim to be a global SNS mobile platform. Currently the company provides an open mobile social network and gaming platform to users and mobile developers in the US, Europe and is expanding into China. Papaya has 3.5 million registered users on its independent social networking platform, where users can play any of 12 social games including its flagship game, Papaya Farm, a virtual social farming game with 2.5 million users. PapayaMobile allows third party developers to develop directly on Papaya's mobile SNS platform or develop utilizing its Offer SDK, an advertising SDK for Android devices. For more information, please visit: http://www.papayamobile.com/.

About DCM

DCM is an early stage venture capital firm that has been helping entrepreneurs build world-class technology companies since 1996. The firm’s partners manage five funds totaling US$1.6 billion, and have made investments in more than 120 technology companies across the United States and Asia. With offices in Silicon Valley, Beijing and Tokyo, DCM provides hands-on operational guidance and a vast network of business and financial resources to its portfolio companies globally. DCM’s portfolio-company investments have resulted in a large number of successful exits including 18 IPOs on seven major exchanges, and 14 acquisitions since inception. DCM has backed industry leading companies such as Foundry Networks, InterNap and About.com. Recent successes additionally include PGP (acquired by Symantec), Fortinet (Nasdaq: FTNT), Neutral Tandem (Nasdaq: TNDM), VanceInfo (NYSE: VIT), and Sling Media.

DCM’s notable Asian and gaming investments include: 51job.com (Nasdaq: jobs), 99bill.com (China’s leading independent e-commerce payment platform), BitAuto.com (China’s leading Auto Media Group), Dangdang.com (China’s No. 1 online book and merchandise seller), Hudong.com (China’s largest wiki platform provider), Mbaobao (fast fashion handbag manufacturer, RockYou (provider of applications and widgets on the web), Outspark (casual online game publisher), PlayFirst (casual online game publisher of Diner Dash), PapayaMobile (mobile social networking and gaming company) and Trion (MMORG game development and platform provider). For more information, please visit: http://www.dcm.com.