Greystripe, a mobile ad network, has raised an additional $2 million in Series C funding from NBC Universal's Peacock Equity Fund. This brings the total round to $7.5 million. Back in March of this year, Greystripe raised $5.5 million from Disney's Steamboat Ventures, Incubic Venture Capital and Monitor Ventures.
The San Francisco-based startup is well known for its mobile ads on the iPhone. What it offers advertisers is the technology to reformat Flash ads for the iPhone. As of now, the iPhone does not offer Flash compatibility, so this technology is definitely a perk. Greystripe's ads potentially have the ability to be interactive, almost game-like. A neat example is this Burger King ad which would appear before running an iPhone application, users interact with the ad by touching the floating balloons and get a score at the end - kind of fun I guess and definitely better than watching pre-roll. Greystripe has partnered with a long list of big name advertisers including Sega, Yahoo, Best Buy, Walmart, and Progressive (naming a few).
When asked whether or not Greystripe was close to reaching profitability, CEO and founder Michael Chang declined to comment but said, "it is a goal in beginning of next year," according to a report from mocoNews.
As for how Greystripe will use the additional funds, Chang told the NYTimes the new cash will serve to increase its sales team, expand its presence in New York, and open an office in Chicago.
