Brian Wong, the 19-year-old wunderkind and University of British Columbia graduate, has scored $4 million in financing to fuel a new ad model that gives mobile game players real rewards ranging from vitamin drinks to a $100 Sony tablet.
Called Kiip, the new venture was launched on Monday in USA. This is Brian’s second venture the other being the popular Digg website, which helps you share content from anywhere on the net.
With this venture Wong becomes the youngest entrepreneur to raise venture capital funding, He beats Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg to this title.
This project is supported by Sony (a biggie in mobile gaming space), 1-800 Flowers, Dr Pepper and Sephora.
Kiip (keep.me) will be offering gifts from some major brands for players who reach milestones in games on their smartphones and other mobile devices.
For 1-800 Flowers, the reward could be a gift certificate for flowers. Other rewards range from vitamin water to Sony’s recently released personal Internet viewer, the Dash.
Kiip hasn’t disclosed the games that are using its service. The rewards are only available to players in the United States for now, but Wong promises Canada will soon follow.