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Tuesday, October 12, 2010
The Pitch
Brass Monkey aims for fast response in online gaming
By Lynette F. Cornell
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Private investors eye online education opportunities
Brass Monkey Inc.
Headquarters: Jamaica Plain
Phone: 617-470-8815
Email: jim@brassmonkeysdk.com
URL: www.brassmonkeysdk.com
Founded: 2010
Employees: 3
In the company’s own words:
“We have developed game changing technology that greatly enhances the experience of playing online games, and interacting with media from a PC/Mac screen all the way up to a Jumbotron®. We seek to become the standard technology used by smart phones and smart tablets when controlling a wide variety of media over wireless networks. Our vision is to build a company that has strong recurring B2B revenue, in a variety of growth industries over the next several years.”
The technology:
Brass Monkey is a networking library for interconnecting mobile devices and computers over a local WiFi network. Its primary use is for turning mobile phones into wireless controllers, where the mobile device uses its built-in controls to communicate to a web-based game. The phone connects directly to the game through the browser, bypassing the intermediary server, which results in a fast response rate. The first game to use this software development kit (SDK) is Star Wars: Trench Run 2.0, where players can use an iPod Touch or iPhone as a wireless game controller to play the game full screen on a computer.
People behind the company:
Jim Bull, CEO, has also founded the software services companies Strategic Marketing Partners Inc. and Strategic Merchandising Partners Inc. Before becoming Brass Monkey’s chief technology officer and president, Chris Allen founded web 2.0 development house Infrared5, where he continues to serve as CEO and president. Jonathan Leach is the senior vice president of sales and was previously in charge of sales at Sennari Mobile and Zeemote Inc.
The advisors:
On their advisory board are Roger Sanford, MediaTile Inc.’s executive vice president; Tom Dusenberry, president of Dusenberry Entertainment; and Anthony Simpson, former president of Verizon Wireless’ west coast division.
The pitch:
The company is raising $1 million in its seed round. Half of that amount will be used to finish additional mobile device SDKs, and the other half will be used for sales, public relations and marketing. The company is also seeking strategic relationships with a variety of technology companies. Brass Monkey currently has partnerships with gaming companies ranging in size from Alcatel-Lucent, through its California-based agency MediaTile Inc., to small, independent game studios.
Accomplishments:
The company is a third round finalist in MassChallenge’s startup competition. It is also a finalist in the Mass Technology Leadership Council’s Product of the Year 2010 competition. The company won the “coolest new technology” award at this year’s MIT Enterprise Forum In-NOW-vation awards.
The market:
The company is seeking to tap into the online gaming market, which Bull estimates is worth $2.3 billion worldwide. The company is currently monetizing its technology through licensing, revenue shares from downloads and in-game advertising and application development. It anticipates a future revenue stream from service contracts for existing contracts.
The competition:
Bull said the company does not have any direct competitors using their type of technology yet but said that likely competitors would be game controller hardware manufacturers. However, he said the company sees all of them as potential clients and not really competitors.
"The Pitch" takes a look at a company, its executives and its technology-related business plan. To nominate your company for The Pitch section of Mass High Tech, please fill out the submission form.
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