Rustic Canyon Partners, Benchmark Capital, Triplepoint Capital and Mystery Investor Funding $10M+ of the Gaikai Series B

LOS ANGELES, May 24, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Gaikai Inc., the revolutionary new cloud based video game streaming service today announced some of its Series B investors. TriplePoint Capital, Rustic Canyon Partners, Benchmark Capital (the lead from Series A) and an un-named partner have invested another $10M+ into the innovative and ambitious start up.

Launching in North America soon, Gaikai's revolutionary cloud based streaming service will allow gamers to experience the latest video games via the Internet at any time, through multiple devices and platforms.

"Gaikai offers video game publishers and retailers an innovative cloud-computing solution that enables the acquisition of new video game players at a dramatically reduced cost. This results in interesting new growth opportunities for the industry. Gaikai is led by exceptional entrepreneurs and we are pleased to be partnering with them to accelerate the transition of the game industry online," says Nate Redmond, Rustic Canyon Partners.

"Gaikai is poised to take advantage of sweeping changes in how games are bought, sold, and ultimately even played brought about by the industry-wide shift to digital distribution. Benchmark is delighted to join in this round and increase our commitment to Gaikai, David Perry and the team," says Mitch Lasky, Benchmark Capital.

"We're proud to have Nate Redmond join the board, given his firm's deep experience funding companies in the video game space, and to have Benchmark, our Series A investor, participate in this new round. We're equally excited to have the backing of TriplePoint, who have financed large internet infrastructure build-outs at Facebook and YouTube. With this new financial support, the team at Gaikai is poised to deliver an amazing service to our customers," says David Perry, Gaikai CEO.

"We're very excited to be part of this group of premier investors helping to finance and make David Perry's Gaikai vision a reality and success," said Kai Tse, Managing Director at TriplePoint Capital. "TriplePoint Capital is actively involved in financing venture backed companies in the gaming ecosystem and we find Gaikai to be among the most exciting innovators with game changing potential."

"The involvement of TriplePoint Capital, Benchmark, Rustic Canyon Partners and our un-named investor allows us to gear up to our US launch, support more devices and deliver a service that will dramatically reduce the cost of acquiring new customers for video game publishers and retailers worldwide," said David Perry, CEO of Gaikai Inc.

Gaikai will be announcing other strategic industry investments and partnerships soon.

What is Gaikai?

Gaikai is a service that completely removes the need to pay to move gamers around on the internet (the most expensive part of customer acquisition), if the gamer is presented with a "BUY" button on any retailer or publisher website, then stop to consider if they want to buy or not, Gaikai can offer a trial of the game instantly within the web browser, with just one click. (Nothing to install, nothing to download.) At the end of the free trial, the player is returned to the same web page, ready to click the buy button. According to EEDAR 96% of gamers value trials and therefore would value this new frictionless trial technology.

About Gaikai Inc.

Gaikai Inc, the new cloud based streaming service for games and applications headed by game industry veteran David Perry, is headquartered in Los Angeles, California and funded by Benchmark Capital, Rustic Canyon Partners and TriplePoint Capital.. The underlying technology for Gaikai was created by co-founders Andrew Gault and Rui Pereira who met while working together in The Netherlands. Gaikai's revolutionary service is due to launch in North America soon. http://www.gaikai.com

About TriplePoint Capital

TriplePoint Capital is the leading global specialty finance company devoted to serving high-growth private equity and venture capital backed companies throughout their lifespan with debt financing, equity capital, and complementary services. With unparalleled levels of creativity, flexibility and customer service, TriplePoint Capital has been a debt financing provider to Facebook, YouTube, Adify, Amyris, Chegg, Slide, Coskata, Realtime Worlds, Riot Games, IMVU, Ilypsa, Proteolix, and numerous other high profile technology and life sciences companies. Headquarted on Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park, California, TriplePoint Capital partners with high-growth companies around the world. For more information, please visit http://www.triplepointcapital.com.

About Rustic Canyon Partners

Rustic Canyon helps exceptional entrepreneurs build great companies. Their team works collaboratively to partner with entrepreneurs and we contribute our energy, time, and capital to support the passion of founders and management. Based in Southern California, Rustic Canyon invests in early-stage companies within core theses. For more information, please visit http://www.rusticcanyon.com.

About Benchmark Capital

Benchmark Capital's strategy is to be the first investor in technology-driven companies that seek to create new markets with significant growth potential. We focus on early-stage investing and take a labor-intensive, service-oriented approach in markets where we have direct experience. These include enterprise software and services, communications & security, semiconductors, mobile computing, consumer services and financial services. For more information, please visit http://www.benchmark.com

SOURCE Gaikai Inc.