Betable Launches the World’s First Real-Money Gaming Platform and Announces Top Tier Investors

Today, Betable introduced the world’s first real-money gaming platform and announced its private beta developer program. The company also shared that it has raised one of 2012’s largest seed rounds of funding, an undisclosed amount from more than 25 investors including Greylock Discovery Fund, FF Angel LLC, True Ventures and Yuri Milner.

“Social game developers have a big problem; existing game monetization methods yield very low per player revenue, so without millions and millions of players it is extremely difficult to build viable businesses,” said Christopher Griffin, Founder & CEO of Betable. “By partnering with Betable to enable real-money gaming, developers will see huge increases in their average revenue per user and average customer lifetime value.”

Having launched its private alpha program in March 2012, Betable is a licensed gambling operator providing a platform that enables developers to legally offer real-money gaming on any platform or device. The company streamlines years of complicated legal issues and millions of dollars of licensing fees into a simple API that anyone with basic programming skills can implement. Developers can use Betable to integrate real-money gaming quickly and easily into new or existing games.

“At Betable we’re unlocking real-money gaming for developers who can innovate in what up until now has been a massively impenetrable space,” continued Griffin. “Our partners and investors believe that Betable represents the largest opportunity for innovation and monetization for game developers in years.”

Funding

“Real-money gaming represents the rapid convergence of social games and the gambling industry, and our roster of investors with luminaries from both spaces uniquely positions Betable to capture this emerging market,” said Griffin. “The validation they bring to the opportunity and the value that they add to our business is immeasurable.”

“FF Angel invested in Betable because it substantially reduces friction between businesses and gamers in a poorly-structured market, while maintaining high levels of compliance and accountability,” said Brian Singerman, a partner at Founders Fund, the firm that manages the FF Angel fund.

“We believe real-money gaming will make the social games industry more successful and has the potential to catapult games that offer it to the top of every app store on the planet,” said Tony Conrad, Partner at True Ventures. “While awaiting the US’ legalization of online gambling which could take years, the overseas markets represent billions of dollars in opportunity for developers located anywhere in the world. Betable is in a great spot to help those developers participate in this emerging market.”

Investors in Betable’s seed round of funding include firms Bullpen Capital, CrunchFund, FF Angel LLC, Greylock Discovery Fund, Morado Ventures, Start Fund/DST, Tekton Ventures, True Ventures, Venture 51, and individual investors Marc Abramowitz, Scott Belsky, Reece Duca, Bjorn Evers, Auren Hoffman, Sean Knapp, Andrew Kofman, Howard Lindzon, Chris Larsen, Heather Sue Mercer, Dave Morin, Matt Ocko, Gil Penchina, Joshua Schachter, Arjun Sethi, Josh Spear, John Suliman, David Tisch, and Ray Tonsing.

Affecting Change

The topic of real-money gaming has been greatly discussed in 2012, with companies stating their intentions to offer it in their own games. On top of eliminating the barrier to entry, Betable will give partners the ability to customize their own gambling mechanics, empowering game developers to bring much needed innovation to casino-style entertainment, delivering improved experiences for consumers on every platform.

Private Beta Program

Previously in stealth, Betable has selectively partnered with more than 30 of the many developers vying for access to its private alpha program, and it will now accept a limited number of additional partners into its newly announced private beta program.

“We believe that first-movers in real-money gaming will enjoy a substantial advantage,” said Griffin. “Our goal is to partner with select groups aligned with Betable’s vision of affecting positive change in casino-style games, one of the world’s most stagnant yet profitable forms of entertainment.”

Developers interested in applying to become partners in Betable’s private beta program can visit https://developers.betable.com/ to learn more and apply.

More Information

• Betable Founder & CEO Christopher Griffin will be participating in a panel at VentureBeat’s GamesBeat 2012 titled “Social Casino Games” at 2:30 p.m. PST on July 10^th. For more information visit the GamesBeat Agenda.
• Developers can sign-up HERE to participate in Betable’s first Hackathon, which will take place in San Francisco on the weekend of July 27^th - 29^th.

About Betable

Betable (https://developers.betable.com), the real-money gaming platform, is reinventing entertainment by merging the worlds of gaming and casino-based entertainment. Betable provides the license, support and infrastructure that allow developers to legally integrate real-money gaming into their mobile and social games and applications. Betable is dedicated to providing players with world-leading security, player location and identity verification to keep their funds safe and to ensure responsible gaming. The company is privately held and is headquartered in London, England with an office in San Francisco, California.

About FF Angel LLC

FF Angel is the seed-stage fund managed by Founders Fund, the first institutional investor in Yammer, SpaceX and Palantir Technologies. FF Angel invests in start-ups founded by extraordinary entrepreneurs, including new ventures from the firm’s existing network, emphasizing companies with the capacity to capture large existing markets or create entirely new ones.

About True Ventures

Founded in 2006, True Ventures is a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm that invests in early-stage technology startups. With three funds and approximately $600 million in capital under management, True provides seed and Series A funding to the most talented entrepreneurs in today¹s fastest growing markets. With a mission to make the world a better place for entrepreneurs, True encourages each founder’s vision and has built resources to empower the employees, families and communities of its portfolio companies. The firm maintains a strong founder community and offers innovative educational opportunities to its portfolio, helping entrepreneurs achieve higher levels of success and impact. With more than 100 companies funded and multiple companies acquired, the True portfolio has created over 1,900 jobs. To learn more about True Ventures, visit www.trueventures.com.