• QuizUp

  Led · Convertible Note · Jan 2016

  Plain Vanilla develops the mobile trivia app QuizUp, which launched in November 2013. QuizUp has more than 40 million registered users and 5 billion games played, with daily users spending on average over 30 minutes per day on the app. The company is partnering with Glu Mobile to monetize QuizUp’s global audience through cross-promotion, increased in-game advertising and new game features. Plain Vanilla and Glu are also collaborating on development of a QuizUp television program in partnership with NBC Universal, a format centered on audience interaction and expected to drive additional app downloads. Financially, Plain Vanilla raised up to $7.5M in promissory notes convertible into a minority equity stake from Glu Mobile. As part of the deal, Glu’s CEO Niccolo de Masi will join QuizUp’s Board of Directors and Glu holds a 15-month call option to acquire Plain Vanilla at a pre-agreed price. Plain Vanilla Games develops QuizUp, a mobile trivia game that matches players against friends or strangers across topic-based six-question matches. The app hosts more than 350 topics and nearly 200,000 questions, and had reached 10 million users on iPhone at the time of the article. The company launched an iPad-optimized version that uses the larger screen for persistent navigation, enhanced social features (messages and discussions), and richer photo-based questions that benefit from retina displays. Plain Vanilla plans an Android release for smartphones and tablets and intends to localize QuizUp into all major languages and countries in 2014 to grow its international audience. The team expanded from seven employees a year ago to more than 40, and the company had just raised $22 million from Sequoia to support its growth. New platforms, languages, and topics are the stated priorities as the company looks to build community and increase engagement. Plain Vanilla Games is a San Francisco and Reykjavik-based developer of the social trivia platform QuizUp. The company launched QuizUp on iPhone just over a week before the article, offering over 100,000 trivia questions across nearly 300 categories. QuizUp blends one-to-one messaging, discussion boards and leaderboards organized by city, state and country to combine human interaction with gameplay. The app had 1.7 million signed-up users within about a week of launch. The company is hiring and is led by founder and CEO Thor Fridriksson. Plain Vanilla recently raised $2M in funding from Sequoia Capital and eVentures. Plain Vanilla developed an engine for rapidly building real-time, cross-platform multiplayer trivia games and launched several QuizUp-style titles. The studio scored a high-profile partnership with Lionsgate to release Twilight QuizUp, driving deep engagement (some players logged 300–400 hours). After near-bankruptcy following their first app The Moogies, the team relocated to San Francisco to raise new capital. They previously closed a $1.0M seed round nine months before the current raise. With the new funding they plan to expand the trivia games into a broader platform to connect fans and build communities around franchises. The company is led by CEO Thor Fridriksson and has added board members as part of the latest financing.

• Bee Cave Games

  Participated · Seed · Feb 2013

  Bee Cave Games is an Austin, Texas-based developer of social casino and mobile games led by CEO Erik Bethke. Its flagship title, Bee Cave Blackjack & Slots, features Blackjack and Slots gameplay and supports 18 languages. The game is available on the Facebook App Center, Apple iOS App Store, Google Play Store and the Kindle Fire App Store. The company closed a $5.5M Series A and has now raised more than $10M in equity. Bee Cave intends to use the funds to grow current and future titles. Matrix Partners participated in the Series A and Josh Hannah joined the company’s board of directors. Bee Cave Games is a developer of social games best known for its Bee Cave Blackjack Casino title. The company’s flagship game features both Blackjack and Slots and supports 18 languages. Bee Cave Blackjack Casino is available on the Facebook App Center, Apple iOS App Store, Google Play Store and the Kindle Fire App Store. The firm plans to use the new funding to market and expand the Bee Cave Blackjack Casino game on Facebook, iOS and Android. Bee Cave Games was founded in 2012 and is led by CEO Erik Bethke. The article reports the company raised seed funding to support those growth efforts. Bee Cave Games is an Austin, Texas-based developer of connected social games founded in 2012 by former Zynga executive Erik Bethke, Jeremy Strauser and Nimai Malle. The studio builds games across web, Facebook, iOS (iPhone and iPad), Android (phone and tablet) and other gaming platforms. Its first project, Blackjack Casino, is currently in private beta. The company raised $1.4M in seed funding from Glu Mobile and unnamed private investors. Glu Mobile is specifically named among the backers, with other private investors undisclosed. Bee Cave Games is currently hiring as it continues development and prepares to scale its connected-game offerings.

No current team members are available.