July 26, 2006
Digital Chocolate Secures $22.5 Million in Series C Funding with Six New Investors

Digital Chocolate, Inc., a leading publisher of high-quality, original software for mobile phones, today announced that it has secured $22.5 million in Series C funding led by new investor, late-stage and expansion venture capital fund Bridgescale Partners. Digital Chocolate continues to grow and enhance its relationships with customers and these funds will allow the company to expand further in their bid to become the pre-eminent, pure-play mobile game company.

Digital Chocolate obtained six new venture investors in this round, including Bridgescale Partners, Outlook Ventures, Montagu Newhall, DN Capital, Glynn Capital Management and CHI Capital. Also investing in this round are all the company's previous investors: Sequoia Capital, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Sutter Hill Ventures and Chengwei Ventures. With this closing, Digital Chocolate has raised $43.8 million in cumulative capital.

"We strongly believe in the unique and promising IP position Digital Chocolate has carved out within the mobile gaming space. Original content always plays a critical role as new media industries mature and, as such, we are excited to lead Digital Chocolate's C round funding," said Matthew Cowan, co-founder of Bridgescale Partners.

"Since our inception, Digital Chocolate has focused on developing an extensive lineup of mobile content that is not only innovative, but also offers a high-quality, extremely satisfying mobile gaming experience. This focus has fed our impressive growth and helped us to reshape how the wireless content market perceives mobile gaming by delivering a wholly new experience for mobile phones," said Trip Hawkins, founder and CEO of Digital Chocolate. "This new financing round will allow us to fuel our expansion plan even further. The level of investment interest in this round, by first quality new and existing investors, further validates our differentiating strategy in mobile games."

Founded in December 2003 by software gaming pioneer Trip Hawkins, Digital Chocolate has established itself as the recognized leader in developing and publishing many of the world's most popular original mobile gaming titles. The company's titles consistently receive top ratings and awards from the most influential gaming review press and two of the company's most popular titles, Tower Bloxx and WordKing Poker, were recently awarded 2005 Mobile Entertainment "Game of the Year" Awards. Digital Chocolate has also been praised for its continued focus on innovation, most recently evidenced by the debut of MLSN Sports Picks, the first game in Digital Chocolate's ground-breaking mobile Social Application series. Since its inception, Digital Chocolate has secured relationships with more than 250 carriers and partners, including Cingular, Orange, Sprint, T-Mobile, 3, Verizon Wireless, and Vodafone and its products are available in over 70 countries around the world.