130 apps helped by Tapjoy Android Fund

Tapjoy has now helped in the financing and discovery of 130 apps on the phone platform, thanks to its Android Fund programme.

"Our goal for the Tapjoy Android Fund was to help enhance the Android ecosystem by bringing great games from Facebook, iOS and other platforms to the Android Market," said publishing director Rob Carroll.

"Our fund is unique in that we don't ask for creative control and we don't push developers to adopt one strategy over another; we simply identify talented teams and arm them with the tools and resources they need to quickly build their apps and then turn them into top hits."

The mobile monetisation specialists admitted most are still in development, but points to success stories like 3D Hunting: Alaskan Hunt by MachineWorks Northwest, a Tapyjoy Android Fund that has been downloaded more than a million times.

The newly ported Android titles can also make the most of the Tapjoy advertising network, and Tapjoy is currently on the look out for new candidates to benefit from the fund.

The relationship seemed to have worked for Craneballs Studios.

"Our games were already very successful on iOS, but with Tapjoy's help we were able to quickly and easily port them to Android and grow our user base more rapidly than we ever expected," added Craneballs CEO Martin Chamrad, whose games Overkill has more than 900,000 users..

Tapjoy offered sound advice and direction as we built Overkill for Android, but at the same time they let us do our own thing. The end result was a user experience that might just be our most intense yet, and it has paid off handsomely in terms of user growth, engagement and, perhaps most importantly, revenue."

Late last year rumours circulatedthat Tapjoy is currently looking for a buyer, a rumour the CEO Mihir Shah refused to deny. The appointment of new CFO Al Wood, a man experienced in IPOs, also suggest there are big changes looming for the San Francisco based company.