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NECN: Scvngr tours explore cities, campuses by cell phone
Boston mobile gaming startup Scvngr Inc. has taken the next step in its “check-in” style location-based game by adding a reward component for end users that could nab them such things as free coffee or discounts on shoes for completing challenges at specific locations. The company launched the rewards feature Wednesday in Boston and Philadelphia, with plans roll out to the 10 largest U.S. cities by October.
According to Scvngr, its first major national retail partner is shoe seller Journeys, a division of Nashville-based retail conglomerate Genesco Inc. that has 825 retail locations around the country. In an effort to draw more local retailers as reward partners, Scvngr said it is offering the first 50 small businesses in each city the chance to sign up for free, as opposed to the usual cost of between $500 and $1,000 per year.
According to Scvngr “chief ninja” and founder Seth Priebatsch, the company has ambitious plans for grabbing retail partners.
“We’ve signed up between the two markets probably about 25 locations at the moment -- people like Giapronto in Philadelphia,” he said. While he said he couldn’t talk about the other partners yet, he expects the roster of 50 free sign ups to fill up fast.
“The goal is to have all 50 of those signed up and ready to go in the next 14 days,” Priebatsch said.
Scvngr launched as a business developing a platform for clients to create their own scavenger-hunt like games using text messages and responses via cell phones. It has a growing list of customers for its platform technology, including universities, the Museum of Science Boston, the U.S. Navy and the cities of Boston and Philadelphia. Earlier this year it launched its location-based “challenge” game, which many see as similar to the check-in feature of Foursquare. Priebatsch disagrees.
“We’ve turned down a fair amount of money from people who wanted to do challenges like this: come to my retailer, purchase a hamburger, and I’ll give you two points,” Priebatsch said in a previous interview. “That’s not fun. That sucks. It completely breaches the veil of acceptable game play.”
Instead, Scvngr issues challenges to the user to earn points, such as taking a picture or answering a question. Now, when the user has accumulated enough points at a given location, he can trade those in for the rewards offered by a Scvngr retail partner. The Scvngr app is available for iPhone or Android operating systems.
Privately held Scvngr took in a $4 million investment last December led by Google Ventures, the investing arm of Google Inc., adding to an $825,000 seed round led by Highland Capital Partners last June.
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