SoftBank Funds ThumbPlay Games

Thumbplay has secured $7.5 million in second-round funding led by SoftBank Capital technology Fund III and SoftBank Capital New York. Earlier this year, Thumbplay announced the launch of an online mobile entertainment portal - ThumbPlay.com. Thumbplay said the portal works with most major carriers and offers customers a faster, easier way to order applications, ringtones, images, games and other content directly to their cell phones. 

“We saw the growth of the wired Internet content portal business in the mid-’90s, with Yahoo!, and now we’re seeing the wireless content portal business growing, through companies such as Thumbplay,” said Eric Hippeau, a SoftBank Capital managing partner.

“Subscriptions [in the U.S.] are growing and as content starts to shift toward off-deck and is sold through mass-market channels … the opportunities for the mobile content market will greatly expand,” says Thumbplay’s Founder and CEO Are Traasdahl. Continue