Available in English Area served Worldwide | Headquarters The Hague, Netherlands Website [1], [2] | |
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Type of site Interactive entertainment, Social network service Key people Adam Palmer (CEO and co-founder)
Jon Butterfield (CCO and co-founder)
Viral Patel (COO and co-founder) | ||
Gramble is a game-focused social entertainment network connecting players, developers, and charities through interactive profiles and a suite of social features. Launched in open beta in April 2013, the network is currently accessible via a mobile version for smartphones and tablets (Gramble.com). Native (downloadable) versions of the Gramble network are also available for iOS and Android. An HTML5-based web version is also in development. Gramble's stated mission is "to improve over one billion lives by changing the way people donate to charity."
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Background and location
Founded in February 2012 by British-Australian entrepreneur Adam Palmer (CEO), Gramble World BV is a Dutch company with its HQ in The Hague, Netherlands, and offices in San Francisco, California. Co-founders include Chief Creative Officer Jon Butterfield and Chief Operations Officer Viral Patel, who help oversee a staff of more than 30 designers, developers, marketers, etc. As of May 2013, the network hosts several hundred games from over 150 developers.
Network and community
The Gramble network is a social platform that hosts a large family of social games, categorized by genre, as well as profile pages for players as well as charity and developer partners. In addition to allowing players to interact via social features, Gramble encourages their interaction with charities and developers by having them "star" and promote their favorites through social media, and also support charities directly via donation.
Additional social and technical features include cloud saving and friend features such as cross-game chat, leaderboards and achievements, and activity feeds – including a fully interactive Facebook integration. Network users can star favorite games, developers, charities, and other users to follow their activities.
Developers
Developer partners are called "rock stars" by Gramble, and are given studio profiles where they can promote their titles and interact with fans for long-term relationship building. Gramble publishes and/or hosts games instead of licensing them – meaning developers maintain full rights to their games. Developers also keep all in-game monetization and 70% of site-based advertising linked to their game. (A portion of the remaining goes to the Gramble Foundation for charitable distribution.) Gramble also offers monetization solutions to developers who do not have their own.
Free SDKs are currently available for Android and iOS, with versions for HTML5, Unity, and Adobe AIR to follow. The SDKs are available as part of a Developer Sandbox, which also includes analytics and reporting dashboards.
Charities
Gramble links players’ gaming activities with charity donations by allowing them to select causes to support, creating a pathway for direct and indirect donations. Indirect donations are determined by player activity on the network, with funds generated being handled by the Gramble Foundation. Gramble and select business partners have also pledged a percentage of monthly revenues generated by the network to the Foundation as well, to be divided among the charity partners according to the number of stars each has accrued on the network (determined by players).
Charity partners are featured prominently on the site, each receiving their own social page to champion their cause and build a community of supporters. Gamers can choose to champion their favorite charity, possibly eventually becoming a "Grambassador" and engaging in real-life charity work and attending VIP events.
Investors
Gramble’s cornerstone investor is Novamedia, the third-largest charity donor in the world with $7 billion in donations made (as of summer 2012), thanks in part to high-profile ambassadors such as Bill Clinton, Rafael Nadal, Nelson Mandela, and Sir Richard Branson. Their more than 100 affiliated charities include high-profile names like UNICEF, Oxfam, the World Wildlife Fund, War Child, and Amnesty International as well as local groups such as the National Galleries of Scotland or the Swedish Alzheimerfonden.
Gramble has also received sizable investments from Angaros Group.