Double Fusion Names CEO; Closes $10 Million Funding Round With Accel Partners And JVP

Yahoo! Games Veteran Geoff Graber Assumes Top Role at In-Game Ad Leader

News by GamesIndustry International Contributor

Published on Nov. 8, 2005

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SAN FRANCISCO, November 8, 2005 - Double Fusion, a leader in the in-game advertising industry, has appointed Geoff Graber, the former general manager of Yahoo! Games, as its chief executive officer. The company also announced that it closed a $10 million financing round led by Accel Partners and JVP (Jerusalem Venture Partners).

Double Fusion is widely recognized as a leader in the rapidly growing in-game advertising market. The company's technology is utilized by video and PC game publishers to place advertising within their games, which Double Fusion represents to leading marketers and their advertising agencies.

Mr. Graber brings more than 15 years of entrepreneurial experience and success in the games and media businesses to Double Fusion. Most recently, Mr. Graber was instrumental in building Yahoo! Games into the most popular gaming site on the Web. Under his leadership, Yahoo! Games grew to reach more than 23 million unique users as of July 2005, according to comScore Media Metrix*. As general manager, Mr. Graber oversaw all aspects of the site, from strategy and business direction, content creation and web site production, to business development, marketing, advertising sales and engineering. Mr. Graber was instrumental in driving Yahoo! Games revenues. He helped to create new services and advertising opportunities to connect leading brands with gamers.

Previously, Mr. Graber led business development for Yahoo! Mobile, forging partnerships with companies such as Verizon Wireless, AT&T Wireless and Qualcomm. He was also a co-founder and president of Muse Corporation, a provider of an enabling technology for broadband entertainment content.

In 1995, Mr. Graber launched Electronic Arts' operations in China, where he helped pioneer the country's video games industry. He was the managing director there through 1998 where he worked to navigate through the controversial issues of software piracy.

"Over the past 18 months, Double Fusion has fine-tuned its technology, developed its sales team and proven its model through aggressive testing and research with partners such as Nielsen Entertainment," said Elie Wurtman, chairman of Double Fusion and chief executive of JVP Studio. "Geoff's experience in building large-scale international businesses, and the breadth of his connections across the video, PC, Internet and mobile games markets, makes his appointment a very exciting step in the company's growth. We're confident that his experience with Yahoo! Games and EA and his entrepreneurial background will help catapult Double Fusion to the next level in an industry with tremendous potential."

"The video gaming industry has grown dramatically over the past few years, and advertisers are looking to penetrate this fastest growing media platform," said Mr. Graber. "The 'traditional' advertising model no longer effectively captures the 18-to-34-year-old male demographic. Marketers see this and are shifting portions of their ad budgets into 'non-traditional' platforms - including video gaming. With clearly superior technology and a truly international footprint, Double Fusion is best positioned to capitalize on the shift of ad dollars."

The addition of Mr. Graber to Double Fusion coincides with the closing of a $10 million funding round led by Accel Partners and JVP and also including Jerusalem Capital. This capital infusion enables Double Fusion to move its headquarters from Jerusalem to the San Francisco Bay Area and aggressively market its services globally to reach larger publishers. As part of the funding round, Harry Nelis and Bruce Golden of Accel and Allon Bloch of JVP have joined Double Fusion's Board of Directors.

"Video games have become ubiquitous in today's culture, and finding the right ways to connect brands with them is the logical extension for the advertising marketplace. We are very excited to work with the company and establish Double Fusion as a leading player in the market," said Harry Nelis, principal, Accel Partners.

About Accel Partners

Founded in 1983, Accel Partners has a history of excellence and innovation in the venture capital business. The firm is dedicated to partnering with outstanding management teams to build world-class Internet, software and networking companies. With over $3 billion under management, Accel Partners has a long legacy of helping entrepreneurs build highly successful companies. Accel portfolio companies have completed IPOs that have created well over $100 billion in market capitalization. Accel has a history of backing category-defining companies, which include Actuate, Agile Software, AMCC, Arrowpoint, Foundry, Macromedia, Portal, Polycom/PictureTel, Uunet, Veritas, and Real Networks. For more information, visit the Accel Partners web site at www.accel.com.

About JVP

JVP is a leading venture capital firm focusing on investments in early stage companies in the enterprise software & media technologies, semiconductors & innovative materials and communications & networking sectors. With over $680 million under management, and offices in Jerusalem, New York, London, Tokyo and Shanghai, JVP leverages its international presence, vast expertise and substantial capital base to build companies with the potential to shape and dominate global markets. JVP Studio, the incubation arm of JVP, represents an extremely attractive framework for seed investment while deepening JVP's penetration into Israel's entrepreneurial community.

About Double Fusion

Double Fusion (www.DoubleFusion.com) is a leading company that specializes in real time, dynamic in-game advertising for video games. The company was founded in 2004 to address the needs of video game publishers by offering an avenue to generate additional revenue, while at the same time incorporating advertisements as way to enhance the realism of their video games. Double Fusion is backed by JVP Studio, JVP (www.jvpvc.com) and Accel Partners.