Social gaming company CrowdStar has joined forces with consumer Internet and mobile computing incubator, YouWeb. CrowdStar hit a major milestone last month with the release of its hit social game, Top Girl. The iOS game made its way to the #1 spot in Apple’s App Store, acquiring over 1 million downloads in just 10 days and establishing itself as the top-grossing game in the App Store over Zynga Poker and Angry Birds. On the heels of this success, CrowdStar is establishing StarFund and allocating up to $10 million for investments in game developers with innovative game concepts.
Game developers can apply through CrowdStar to receive up to $250,000 in funding to develop their mobile games, if they are selected as part of StarFund. Upon completion of the game, CrowdStar will also offer marketing and analytics resources to selected teams that have produced polished products. Selected developers may also get assistance in entering global markets through CrowdStar’s partnerships in Asia and Europe. Developers will be selected by an investment guru from YouWeb’s team and CrowdStar’s founder, Suren Markosian, who led the vision behind CrowdStar’s biggest hits, including Happy Aquarium, Happy Island, It Girl and Top Girl.
The fund is a joint effort by CrowdStar and tech incubator, YouWeb, whose successful track record includes CrowdStar, Sibblingz and iSWiFTER, as well as OpenFeint, which sold for $104 million last April.
Developers interested in applying for StarFund can visit www.crowdstar.com/fund
