Fierce Capital, the investment unit of The Tyra Banks Company, has invested in Locket. Financial details of the supermodel's investment were not provided. However, Locket is now raising money to the tune of millions of dollars which is set to close in 2014.
Launched this summer, Locket is a mobile application made for Android smartphones. It basically puts ads and other types of content on a user's lockscreen. If the user decides to view or engage with the ad then he or she can swipe the phone in one way. Otherwise, you just swipe on the other side so you can open and use your phone. Engagement with the ad can be in the form of going to a website or a social media page, clicking a movie trailer or downloading a coupon.
Each time users opt to interact with the ad, they can earn a little bit of money. The swipes give back pennies per hour to the users. This isn't much but Locket has kept on adding other types of content to get users to swipe on the ads. These include news, weather, quotes and photos.
Popular brands like Hershey's, ZipCar, Spotify, Sunny D, HotelTonight and eBay have already used the Locket platform. According to a TechCrunch report, advertisers say the click-through rates for their campaigns on Locket range from 3% to 5%.
Locket Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer Yunha Kim said Kevin Gould, the one who co-founded StartupAgency, introduced her to Tyra Banks. Kim told TechCrunch, "[Banks] loved the story around how we're a Ramen noodle startup, and how I'm the only female on the team. She liked that she was able to back a female entrepreneur." She added that the questions Banks had asked were also similar to that asked by other investors.
Tyra Banks had also invested in other young companies like The Hunt, a shopping website, and Flixel, a photo app.
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