RockYou, the leading innovator, creator and distributor of social experiences that engage hundreds of millions of people across multiple social networks, announced a $50 million Series D round of funding from SoftBank. Funds will be used to enhance RockYou’s global brand, expand current application development and create products to host in-game advertising opportunities.
RockYou operates the largest independent ad network in social media, reaching more than 213 million monthly total unique visitors with more than 15 billion monthly impressions. Since its launch in November 2005, RockYou has provided industry leading solutions for marketers to reach their target audiences across social networks. RockYou will expand branding opportunities to in-game ads as well as other advanced products.
Additionally, RockYou has been a leader at developing the most engaging and entertaining applications and plans to continue to devote resources to expand this business model. RockYou today launched its new gifting application on MySpace called Gifts.
“RockYou has been an innovator in the social media industry since our launch more than four years ago, and we are excited to expand our relationship with SoftBank with this round of funding,” said Lance Tokuda, co-founder and CEO, RockYou. “In 2009, RockYou is on target to triple our revenue from the previous fiscal year, demonstrating our continued growth in the space.”
This funding round brings RockYou’s total financing to $118 million. RockYou raised a total of $52 million in Series C funding, receiving $17 million from SoftBank and SK Telecom Ventures in November 2008 and $35 million from DCM in June 2008. Additional venture funding sources include Lightspeed Venture Partners, Partech International and Sequoia Capital.
About RockYou:
RockYou is the leading innovator, creator, and distributor of content on the social web. With over 46M monthly US users, 213M users worldwide, and 15 billion global impressions, advertisers have the ability to tap the social networking audience directly, through timely and effective campaigns. The company provides customized, one-of-a-kind branding and promotional opportunities through its network of applications on social networking platforms like Facebook, MySpace, Bebo and hi5. RockYou’s advertising platform is the largest social media ad network and the most dynamic way for brands and advertisers to reach social media users. Headquartered in Redwood City, California, RockYou is funded by Sequoia Capital, Partech International, Lightspeed Venture Partners, DCM, SK Telecom Ventures and SoftBank. For more information, please visit http://rockyou.com/corp/about.php.
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SOURCE RockYou