Microsoft’s Bing fund, announced just over a month ago, has begun making investments, with both app tools developer The Buddy Platform and in-game advertiser Pinion Tech benefitting from the tech giant’s incubator fund.
Aside from funding, the Bing Fund will enable the companies, both of which are based in Microsoft’s home state of Washington, to utilise Microsoft’s considerable technology assets, technical expertise, and Bing APIs.
The size of the investments in both Buddy and Pinion have not been disclosed.
The Bing fund was set up last month with former general manager of Microsoft’s entertainment business and founder of VoodooPC Rahul Sood at the helm as general manager.
The Buddy Platform gives app developers access to a range of APIs that enable them to build stronger apps in less time. It can be utilised as a cross-platform backend, and is accessible from pretty much any modern device. It also provides detailed app analytics.
“We’re delighted to be able to transform such incredible support from Microsoft directly into Buddy customer value – across a very wide range of devices and scenarios,” said Buddy CEO David McLauchlan in a statement.
He added: “As a direct result of support from Bing Fund, we will shortly introduce new product features that developers and publishers will be excited to leverage.”
Pinion Tech provides a monetisation service for online gaming servers. The company pays server owners to host ads, which in turn allows Pinion to serve interactive ads in-game to the 18 to 35 male demographic. The company is already working with Valve and their Steam platform, as well as other publishers.