Challenge Games Secures $4.5 Million Financing from Sequoia Capital.Investment and MLB MLB Major League Baseball MLB Minor League Baseball MLB Middle Linebacker (football) MLB Motor Life Boat MLB Matt Leblanc (actor) MLB Mother Love Bone (band) Advanced Media Licensing Deal Illustrate Growing Interest in Browser-Based, Free-to-Play, Short-Form Online Games AUSTIN, Texas -- Challenge Online Games[TM], Inc. (Challenge Games), developer of the popular Duels[TM] online fantasy game, today announced it has secured $4.5 million in Series A funding from Sequoia Capital Sequoia Capital is a venture capital firm founded by Don Valentine in 1972. The firm's partners include Don Valentine, Pierre Lamond, Michael Moritz, Doug Leone, Mike Goguen, Mark Stevens, Jim Goetz, Sameer Gandhi, Roelof Botha, and Mark Kvamme. , which has a long history of investing in market-leading gaming companies - including being the original investor in Atari, Electronic Arts and nVIDIA. Challenge Games also announced it signed a multi-year licensing deal with MLB Advanced Media, LP (MLBAM MLBAM Major League Baseball Advanced Media ), the interactive media and Internet company of Major League Baseball "MLB" and "Major Leagues" redirect here. For other uses, see MLB (disambiguation) and Major Leagues (disambiguation). Major League Baseball (MLB) is the highest level of play in North American professional baseball. . The funding and licensing deal will support expansion of the short-form, browser-based online game titles developed by Challenge Games, including a new kind of collectible card-based web sports game A sports game is a computer or video game that simulates the playing of traditional sports. They are extremely popular, the genre including some of the best-selling games. called Baseball Boss[TM], which the company launched today. As part of the agreement with the MLBAM, Baseball Boss allows players to collect and trade virtual online baseball cards, which can be used to build teams and challenge other gamers or historical teams to fantasy baseball Fantasy baseball is a game whereby players manage imaginary baseball teams based on the real-life performance of baseball players, and compete against one another using those players' statistics to score points. games. Like traditional baseball cards, the online cards available in Baseball Boss include player statistics and photos. Baseball Boss currently allows gamers to collect and trade virtual baseball cards of players from the 1907 and 2007 baseball seasons - with new seasons to be released over the coming months. "Both casual and hardcore gamers alike have few choices when it comes to finding challenging quick-fix gaming experiences that are high-quality and engaging," said Roelof Botha Roelof Botha is a venture capitalist. He began his career as an actuary. He was the CFO of PayPal. Now he works for Sequoia Capital and sat on the board of directors of YouTube before its acquisition by Google. Botha sits on the board of Insider Pages, Meebo, and Xoom. , venture capitalist Venture Capitalist An investor who provides capital to either start-up ventures or support small companies who wish to expand but do not have access to public funding. Notes: Venture capitalists usually expect higher returns for the additional risks taken. with Sequoia Capital. "But when I found and played Duels for the first time, I was hooked. It's clear Challenge Games is filling a major opportunity in the gaming market." Duels and Baseball Boss are the first titles developed by Challenge Games. They're free-to-play online games that combine the collectibility and trading associated with collectible card games See collectible card game for information on this genre. Numbered links refer to the game's official website. Unless otherwise noted, all dates listed should be considered as the North American release date. (CCGs) and sports cards with the competitive aspects of massively multi-player games (MMORPGs) and the ease of access of community Web 2.0 applications. They are also unique in their asynchronous Refers to events that are not synchronized, or coordinated, in time. The following are considered asynchronous operations. The interval between transmitting A and B is not the same as between B and C. The ability to initiate a transmission at either end. , short-form design, which allows them to be played in 5-15 minute increments rather than in long marathon sessions. "With nearly 250,000 loyal Duels gamers in its first ten months and a fantasy sports world worth $2 billion, we're just beginning to skim the surface of the growing market for short-form online games," said Andrew Busey, founder and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of Challenge Online Games. "We're excited to have the support of one of the top venture capital firms Name Location Founding date Managing Partners/Directors Specialty Capital managed 5AM Ventures Menlo Park, CA; Waltham, MA 2002 John Diekman, PhD (managing partner), Scott Rocklage, PhD (managing partner), Andrew Schwab (managing partner) life sciences $200M [1] as well as MLB Advanced Media as we continue to bring together the best of the old and new gaming worlds." Duels and Baseball Boss are free to play. Gamers can collect items and cards within the game and trade them with other players. They can also sign up for VIP memberships for a small subscription fee, which provides additional benefits such as the ability to buy card packs and special items for enhanced gaming experiences. To play Baseball Boss, visit www.baseballboss.com. To play Duels, visit www.duels.com or http://apps.facebook.com/duelsfb. For more information on Challenge Games visit www.challengegames.com. About Sequoia Capital Sequoia Capital provides venture capital funding to founders of startups who want to turn business ideas into companies. As the "Entrepreneurs Behind the Entrepreneurs," Sequoia Capital's Partners have worked with innovators such as Steve Jobs Steve Jobs - Stephen Jobs of Apple Computer, Larry Ellison of Oracle, Bob Swanson of Linear Technology, Sandy Lerner and Len Bozack of Cisco Systems, Dan Warmenhoven of Network Appliance, Jerry Yang and David Filo of Yahoo!, Jen-Hsun Huang of nVIDIA, Michael Marks of Flextronics, Larry Page and Sergey Brin of Google, Chad Hurley and Steve Chen of YouTube and Dominic Orr and Keerti Melkote of Aruba Wireless Networks. To learn more about Sequoia Capital visit www.sequoiacap.com. About Challenge Online Games, Inc. Challenge Online Games (Challenge Games) creates online games that are fun and easy to play whether you're a serious or casual gamer. The company was founded by veteran entrepreneur and gamer, Andrew Busey, author of Secrets of the MUD Wizards and creator of one of the first instant messaging applications. Challenge Games currently offers Duels and Baseball Boss - multiplayer web-based games that combine the best of the collectible card games (CCGs) and traditional role-playing games with the convenience of the short-form gaming experience. The company also holds a multi-year licensing agreement with MLB Advanced Media, LP (MLBAM), the interactive media and Internet company of Major League Baseball. Challenge Games is based in Austin, Texas and is privately held with funding from Sequoia Capital. For more information on Challenge Games, visit www.challengegames.com. Challenge Games, Duels and Baseball Boss are trademarks of Challenge Online Games, Inc. All other names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. |
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