Reaching women on the phone

By Adrienne Sanders San Francisco Business Times Updated: 8:00 p.m. ET Aug. 7, 2005

Women are hot.

As consumers in the sizzling cell phone gaming market, women are increasingly becoming a prized target. Accordingly, this week the all-female founding trio of LimeLife, a Menlo Park publisher of mobile content for women, snagged $5 million from four venture capital firms.

"Women's content is part of their DNA, figuratively and literally," said Jon Staenberg, a partner at venture capital firm Rustic Canyon and LimeLife board member.

The year-old start-up joins a growing group of mobile companies creating games and lifestyle applications for soccer moms who use them to chew up time in the dentist office, count calories or pacify a screeching toddler. Ninety million women in the United States own the ubiquitous devices. And, according to Yankee Group analyst Mike Goodman, women spend more time playing mobile games than men, though there is still a dearth of companies designing games specifically to meet their interests.

The mobile game market remains small, but is growing rapidly. It generated revenue of $72 million in 2004, triple that of the previous year, according to research firm Jupiter Media. And by 2009, Jupiter expects mobile game revenue to reach $430 million. Much of the boom is due to improved technology: Wireless carriers can push bigger wads of data faster than ever across the airwaves. Manufacturers are spitting out phones with larger screens, 3-D graphics chips and rich digital sound and video.

In fact, LimeLife found its start as three friends and former colleagues -- LimeLife CEO Kristin Asleson McDonnell and VPs Gano Haine and Denise Roberts McKee -- sat around a dinner in 2003 showing off their spiffy new cellphones. The former software executives realized none had downloaded anything more inspiring than a few ring tones, despite their affinity for games. Haine and McKee had already developed PC games for their own company, Stunt Puppy Entertainment, and McDonnell had held a senior spot at Electronic Arts. They wanted catchier games and software to help them manage their fashion, fitness and other needs on the go.

The trio(sometimes referred to within the industry as the Go-Gos of mobile gaming) launched LimeLife in 2004. Last month, Rustic Canyon Partners led a series A funding round. The company employs 10 full-time workers and is converting 15 to 20 contractors to full-timers by the end of the year.

The key to success, aside from killer content, will be distribution. LimeLife has scored a distribution deal with Verizon for its "Word Heaven" game. Sprint and Cingular picked up "Girls Night Out Solitaire," "Word Heaven Deluxe" and several upcoming titles, McDonnell said.

Deals like that are where the money is for LimeLife and its competitors. Users generally pay $4 to $5 to download a game, which is split between the gaming company and carrier.

Other local mobile game makers are broadening their offerings for women and have a head start in putting together piles of cash. Digital Chocolate, for example, a San Mateo mobile game publisher started by Trip Hawkins, has been wooing women since its start in 2003, though not exclusively. The company makes carb counters, gardening games and Babysitter, which lets your toddler play with images onscreen while listening to "Old MacDonald Had a Farm." Hawkins, a founder of gaming giant Electronic Arts, named the company to signify a break for busy women. (Actually, his wife came up with it.) Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Sequoia Capital and other firms have put $23 million into the San Mateo-based firm.

Also based in San Mateo, Glu Mobile (formerly Sorrent), founded in 2001 by two Electronic Arts executives, is about to release its first game designed for women -- "High Heels Mahjong: In Her Shoes," a tile-matching game inspired by an upcoming Cameron Diaz film. It also makes several so-called casual or simple-but-addictive games, which net many women users.

Staenberg said LimeLife has one distinct advantage:

"LimeLife is the only mobile publisher focused solely on women's content," he said. "Others may put a toe in the water but we want to be the experts for that demographic."