Greystripe is one of those invisible companies most of never hear about but are just about everywhere on phones of all kinds. I didn't know about them until late last year myself when I moderated a mobile games panel that included Greystripe's VP of Strategy, Erica Chriss. This past March I moderated an app store stories panel that included Greystripe's CEO, Michael Chang. Both panel sessions provided me with a bit more education about Greystripe. They've been the engine behind many Java-based free sponsored advertising driven games on feature phones for years. More recently, they've taken this successful strategy to the iPhone market.

Their strategy and success gained the attention of Disney's Steamboat Ventures as an investor (Disney owns the ABC television network). Now, NBC/Universal is throwing in their own $2 million investment for Greystripe. That's quite a bit of attention to a firm most of us outside of that vertical have never heard of. It also tells us that at least two of the major media compaines in the U.S. are taking mobile advertising very seriously.

Those of us who eat, sleep, and breath mobile tech understand that it isn't so much of the future of mobile as it is that mobile is now. Disney/Steamboat and NBC/Universal seem get this. Let's see how far they take it from here.

From the press release:
Greystripe, the mobile brand advertising network responsible for over 250 million ad-supported mobile app and game downloads, today announced it has secured $2 million in funding from GE/NBCU's Peacock Equity Fund, capping a $7.5 million Series C funding round. The previously announced $5.5 million of this Series C round was from Disney’s Steamboat Ventures, Incubic Venture Capital, and Monitor Ventures. The funds will be used towards increasing Greystripe’s leadership in mobile rich media advertising formats.