TVSMILES raises five million euros in financing round with Omnes Capital as lead investor

TVSMILES, the first quiz app that rewards its users for interacting with various ad formats in a gaming environment, raised five million euros in a recent financing round. In addition to new lead investor Omnes Capital (which invests 2 million euros), TVSMILES is set to receive new capital from its existing investors Ventech, e.ventures, German Startups Group, SevenOneMedia and its current business angels. TVSMILES will use the investments to drive the expansion of its UK business as well as product development.

TVSMILES is a quiz app that rewards users with “Smiles” for interacting with TV- and various digital ad formats. “Smiles” can be exchanged for rewards such as Amazon vouchers, PayPal credit, state-of-the-art smartphones, tablets and much more. To collect “Smiles”, users play quiz cards produced in-house by TVSMILES. The quiz cards contain a mix of both editorial as well as commercial content and combine them into a native advertising environment. Since its launch in Germany in September 2013, TVSMILES has been downloaded more than three million times.

Since August, TVSMILES has been significantly scaling up its user acquisition in the UK. Based on the current August numbers, TVSMILES management is expecting the UK business to match the turnover generated in its native German market starting September. This rapid growth does not come as a surprise, considering the high monetisation potential of the app.

Like in Germany, not only advertisers, but also users love this entertaining mix of games and rewards: TVSMILES is currently number one in the entertainment and quiz app charts of the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

In Germany and the UK combined, TVSMILES currently reaches over 650,000 monthly active users. In Germany, TVSMILES is consistently listed in the top 10 app charts based on gross reach as measured by IVW (equivalent of Nielsen) and AGOF (Working Group for Online Media Research).

After successfully rolling out its UK business, TVSMILES will expand into the U.S. market. Additional international markets are also planned.

TVSMILES’ business encompasses a large variety of options for brand and performance campaigns (CPC, CPI, CPL, CPO, etc.). Additionally, TVSMILES continuously grows their real-time-advertising business and implements new supply-side-platforms every month. TVSMILES can also be booked directly through trading desks.

“This financing round is giving us the means for a sustainable expansion in the UK. Our global business model has opened the doors to our new partner, Omnes Capital. With our current group of investors we are perfectly equipped for our continuous international roll-out”, says Christian Heins, CEO at TVSMILES.

“The tremendous growth achieved at such a fast pace in Germany by an experienced and diverse management team is very attractive. Omnes Capital supports promising and sustainable ventures with disruptive business models and international potential. TVSMILES is one of those companies”, says Xavier Brunaud, Principal at Omnes Capital.