Tokyo and Silicon Valley startup Fresvii has just raised US$4 million from Japan’s Nissay Capital, with US angel Guo Wei also pitching in. Nissay is a repeat investor, having first backed Fresvii in October 2014 with US$1.8 million. According to an official statement, Fresvii will be using the cash to pay off convertible debt and to add new designs to its suite of social tools. The one-year-old startup already has a stacked team of mobile game developers from Disney, Nintendo and Konami and has plans to hire more engineers with the new funds.
Fresvi is the maker of AppSteroid, a social engagement platform offering tools built exclusively for mobile, such as group messaging, forums, voice-chat and so on. The mission behind AppSteroid is to help save game developers a lot of time while ramping up user engagement and retention. “For today’s game publishers, simply relying on riveting game play or a unique story line isn’t going to get them very far. The most successful games embrace social elements into their core gameplay, creating a high level of engagement, interaction and loyalty among users,” said Hiro Nakagawa, CEO and Founder of Fresvii.
The cloud-based platform, which is compatible with a number of game engines such as Unity, iOS and Android, can integrate social features (such as gameplay video recording) within hours instead of months. “We want to help developers to create great games, and our platform will allow them to focus their attention on gameplay rather than spending time adding social features,” said Tony Gascon, General Manager at Fresvii.
To get an idea of traction, take a look at Japanese game developer Liica’s puzzle game Q Universe. AppSteroid tools added video recording functionality and in-game chat, which contributed to Q Universe’s eight million downloads in just six months. The game also scored within the ‘Top 50’ on the US Google Play store.
According to its website, Fresvii launched in beta back in October 2014 and now has over 2,500 registered developers globally.
