App Marketing Network W3i Opens $10M in Funding, Credits to Developers
W3i, an app promotion and monetization network, is looking to round up more developer customers with a new $10 million marketing fund called AppX for Android and iOS games.
The Minnesota-based company, which originally drove downloads for desktop apps and then shifted into mobile over the last few years, says developers will get help with producing and funding games. They’re doing this without asking for revenue share or intellectual property rights.
The funding can be used on other competing marketing channels as long as they are mutually approved, says Deborah Manthei, the company’s director of marketing communications, tells us. She didn’t specify whether it could go toward rival networks like Tapjoy or Flurry though.
W3i has built up a variety of products for developers including a free-app-a-day product called AppAllStar. The company also recently launched a games program that helps developers set up servers, analytics and storefronts for their apps.
What W3i is doing mirrors what Tapjoy did a few months ago when it was trying to recruit customers as it moved its lucrative offer wall-driven advertising network over to Android from iOS. The company launched a $5 million fund to port popular iOS titles to Android as it looked to grow a network on Google’s platform after incentivized installs were banned on Apple.
