One of the leading social gaming companies in the world, CrowdStar, is joining forces with consumer Internet and mobile computing incubator, YouWeb, to help spur the next generation of mobile social gaming innovation.
CrowdStar successfully stormed the mobile space last month with its hit social game, "Top Girl." The iOS title rapidly shot to the no.1 spot in Apple’s App Store, acquiring over 1 million downloads in just 10 days and establishing itself as the top-grossing game in the App Store over "Zynga Poker" and "Angry Birds." On the heels of this success, CrowdStar is establishing StarFund and allocating up to $10 million for investments in innovative game developers.
Game developers can apply through CrowdStar to receive up to $250,000 in funding to develop their mobile games, if they are selected as part of StarFund. Upon completion of the game, CrowdStar will also offer marketing and analytics resources to selected teams that have produced strong, polished products. Selected developers may also get assistance in entering global markets through CrowdStar’s partnerships in Asia and Europe. Developers will be selected by an investment guru from YouWeb’s team and CrowdStar’s founder, Suren Markosian, who led the vision behind CrowdStar’s biggest hits, including "Happy Aquarium," "Happy Island," "It Girl" and "Top Girl."
"What we know is that great teams and products can still get to the top in mobile social gaming," said Blair Hamilton, Head of Mobile at CrowdStar. "With StarFund, we are looking to fund the next stars in mobile social games."
The fund is a joint effort by CrowdStar and tech incubator, YouWeb, whose successful track record includes CrowdStar, Sibblingz and iSWiFTER, as well as OpenFeint, which sold for $104 million last April.
"YouWeb’s mission is helping entrepreneurs build successful products and business models," said Peter Relan, Founder of YouWeb. "As such, StarFund is an ideal partnership for us, because ultimately the mobile entrepreneur wins."
Developers interested in applying for StarFund can visit: http://www.crowdstar.com/fund