Appcelerator, a US-based provider of a web development platform backed by corporate venturing units, has started its own investment fund.
The Appcelerator Innovation Fund will invest in early-stage mobile companies.
Its first deal is Lanica, a US-based mobile game development platform. Lanica’s technology will be demonstrated at Appcelerator’s Codestrong conference October 21-23 and available in December 2012.
Appcelerator’s enterprise customers, which include NBCUniversal, Cisco, Zipcar and Safeguard, will be able to build high-end mobile games using Lancia.
Carlos Icaza, chief executive at Lanica, said: “One of the biggest obstacles to starting a mobile company is housing and running all the back-end support,” explained. “However, with the support of the Appcelerator Innovation Fund, we are able to launch the platform sooner and with better resources to ensure that our users will always have the best product possible.”
Jeff Haynie, chief executive at Appcelerator, added: “Entrepreneurs are creating disruptive mobile technologies that will ignite and change the mobile world. Lanica is one of them. [Its] expertise in mobile gaming has the potential to transform the way mobile games are made. Typically, it could take a company in their space more than 12 months to launch; but with the support of the Appcelerator Innovation Fund, they are launching in just three months.”
Lanica has also acquired Loqheart’s Spriteloq plugin to bring Flash animation to mobile development.
Spriteloq will be renamed Animo.