Participated · Equity · Jul 2022

YGG Japan operates GabeeTown, a web3 game-specific platform that curates domestic and foreign blockchain games to help even beginners start playing. The company positions itself to move Japanese users from “Play to Earn” toward a broader “Play and Earn” market and to support Japanese game publishers in global launches. YGG Japan is building onboarding tools, media functions (GabeeTown is in alpha), wallets and other infrastructure to lower entry barriers and reduce scam risk for web3 novices. Its future plans emphasize product development, marketing/promotion, and recruitment of specialists (engineers, token economists, product marketers, BizDev, PR) to scale operations and communities. Financially, the platform has raised a cumulative total of approximately $5.75 million, including a recent private placement of about $2.95 million. ForN Inc., established in November 2021 and headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo, is the operating partner of YGG Japan and provides marketing, tool development, and infrastructure support. YGG Japan is a subDAO of Yield Guild Games formed to promote blockchain gaming across Japan and to curate and create localized content for Japanese players. It partners with ForN, a DAO-structured game guild service optimized for Japanese gaming culture, and has an exclusive partner relationship with ForN. The subDAO plans to scale the blockchain game market in Japan by developing guild participation services, strengthening partnerships with existing guilds, offering scholarship programs for locally developed games, and providing smoother onboarding to Web3. YGG Japan will also provide development and marketing support for blockchain games using Japanese IP and work with local companies to build a pipeline of games to global users. The team includes Japan-based gaming and tech leaders such as CEO Tetsuya Fujiwara and other industry veterans. The company cites Japan’s market of 52.7 million gamers and a US$22.1 billion gaming market as the opportunity it aims to convert to blockchain gaming, and it recently secured funding to build entry-point products for mass gamers.

Participated · Series B · Aug 2012

App Annie is a San Francisco-based mobile app data and insights platform that provides analytics to track app performance and inform business decisions. Led by co-founder and CEO Bertrand Schmitt, the platform is used by more than 1 million apps. The company has 425 employees across 15 global offices. App Annie raised $63M in Series E equity funding to expand its suite of products and further scale global business operations. It has raised $157M in financing to date. The new capital is intended to grow its product offerings and international footprint. App Annie provides app-store and mobile app market data on downloads, rankings and trends to customers across the app economy. It launched a new product, Usage Intelligence, in beta to surface DAU/WAU/MAU, time spent, launch frequency and retention for app publishers, marketers and investors. The Usage product was built over two years and App Annie is initially targeting enterprise customers, with a broader public rollout planned for Q2 2015. App Annie collects usage data via direct-to-consumer utility apps published by its Smart Sense subsidiary (including VPN Defender) and through proprietary surveys. In 2014 the company tripled revenues, doubled its team to about 300 employees across 10 offices, grew its active user base to 350,000, and reports an average customer spend of $80,000 per year. The company has been cash-flow break-even at times and is using new funding to expand internationally, pursue M&A, and invest in further product development and social features. App Annie offers a suite of mobile app intelligence products—app analytics, ranking data, app store SEO and marketplace intelligence—used by many of the largest app publishers. Its pricing ranges from around $1,200 per month up to $20,000 per month for full offerings, helping drive enterprise revenue. The company reported doubling its user base and tripling revenue over the prior year, and its services are used by 90% of the top 100 app publishers by revenue. After integrating Distimo, App Annie and Distimo combined support nearly 600,000 apps and about 270,000 registered business users. The acquisition brings Distimo’s team and Netherlands headquarters into App Annie as its European R&D center and adds Distimo’s co‑founders into key roles. App Annie has expanded its global footprint with offices in London, Seoul, Tokyo, New York City and San Francisco. App Annie provides a business intelligence and market data platform that tracks app downloads, revenues, rankings and reviews across the app economy. Led by CEO Bertrand Schmitt, the company offers tools to monitor app metrics and market trends. It has more than 110 employees and maintains offices in San Francisco, Beijing, Hong Kong, London, Seoul and Tokyo. The company closed a $15M funding round to accelerate product development, grow sales and marketing headquartered in San Francisco, and expand its global offices across Asia and Europe. In conjunction with the financing, two new board members were announced: Tim Lee of Sequoia and Alan Gould, CEO of uSamp. App Annie provides an app store data suite that gives app publishers, journalists, VCs, media companies and platform owners insights into downloads, revenues, in‑app purchases, rankings and trend analysis across iOS, Mac and Google Play. Its market data service, App Annie Intelligence, is used by software and hardware manufacturers such as Microsoft and Nokia, and by iOS publishers. Led by CEO Bertrand Schmitt, the company operates from Beijing, Hong Kong, Paris and San Francisco. App Annie currently has more than 30 employees and plans to increase headcount within the next year, particularly in its San Francisco and Beijing offices. The company intends to use the Series B funding to accelerate its product roadmap, expand into new app stores worldwide, and increase its presence in the U.S., China and Japan.

Participated · Seed · Jul 2012

Everpix provides desktop and mobile clients that push photos from computers (iPhoto, Aperture, local folders) and phones into the cloud while aggregating images from services like Flickr, Picasa and Facebook. The product automatically de-duplicates photos, organizes them into smart "Moments" albums, and hides blurry or poorly exposed images. The service emphasizes simple privacy controls with a default private setting. Everpix has an iPhone app, is returning to a closed beta, and expects a public 1.0 release in a couple of weeks. Planned 1.0 improvements include an iPad-focused interface, a new "Photo Mail" sharing feature, improved navigation, and enhanced image-analysis capabilities. The company reports about 55 million photos uploaded during its alpha and beta periods, has not yet launched a Windows client, and has $1.8 million in total funding; it is San Francisco-based and was founded by Pierre-Olivier Latour, Kevin Quennesson, and Wayne Fan.

Led · Series A · Jul 2011

Metago develops the ASTRO file management application that lets users manage files on a PC and on Android devices. ASTRO enables users to cut, copy, paste and backup files and apps (including pictures, music, documents and videos) to an SD card. The company’s apps are available for Android mobile phones and tablets. Metago plans to expand its ASTRO product line, including a new cloud-based product, and to enhance the ASTRO File Manager. The company is led by founder and CEO Kevin Payne and recently closed a financing to support those plans.