<article>Japanese mobile marketing company <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://dealstreetasia.com/tag/adways">Adways Inc </a>has acquired Pocket Money an incentivised Android app operated by India-based video advertising platform <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://dealstreetasia.com/tag/pokkt">POKKT</a> for an undisclosed amount.</article>

Japanese mobile marketing company <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://dealstreetasia.com/tag/adways">Adways Inc </a>has acquired Pocket Money an incentivised Android app operated by India-based video advertising platform <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://dealstreetasia.com/tag/pokkt">POKKT</a> for an undisclosed amount.
Pocket Money is a reward-based ad platform which helps app developers to acquire and engage customers in a targeted way. It claims to have an installed user base of over 6 million.
“We have built Pocket Money as a successful and profitable business in less than 18 months. However, we want to focus on our core business, POKKT Video Ads, a leading mobile video ad platform for games in India &amp; SE Asia. Adways is a large global performance ad company and the right partner to scale the pocket money business significantly in India,” said Rohit Sharma, Founder &amp; CEO, POKKT.
The acquisition comes in the wake of Adways&#8217; increased focus on the Indian market. The company also recently launched its Indian subsidiary &#8211; Adways Innovations India Pvt Ltd with Yu Ishida as their Country Manager, POKKT said in a release.
“We are excited to enter the country with such a dynamic and young team as Pocket Money. Launching Adways India and acquiring Pocket Money is another step towards consolidating our foothold in the Asian market,” said Yu Ishida, Country Manager, Adways India.
Earlier this year, the Tokyo-based firm had invested an undisclosed amount in Singapore-based games developer <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://dealstreetasia.com/tag/daylight-studios">Daylight Studios</a> to expand its footprint and capabilities in the mobile gaming sector.
According to a report by Counterpoint Research, India has become the second-largest smartphone market in terms of active unique smartphone users with 220 million users, surpassing the US market, followed by China and expected to reach 700 million by 2020.
Mobile advertising market has also grown by 200% every year since 2013 in proportion to the growth of smartphone penetration.
In November last year, POKKT had announced raising around $5 million from Singapore-based venture capital firm <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://dealstreetasia.com/tag/segnel-venture">Segnel Venture Pte Ltd </a>and angel investors Shinji Kimura and Sundar Chanrai. Existing investors including Singapore-based venture capital firms <a href="http://dealstreetasia.com/tag/jafco">JAFCO Asia,</a><a style="color: #000080;" href="http://dealstreetasia.com/tag/innov8"> SingTel Innov8</a>, <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://dealstreetasia.com/tag/jungle-ventures">Jungle Ventures</a> and serial entrepreneur and angel investor K. Ganesh also participated in this round.
The Mumbai-based start-up was founded in 2012 by Rohit Sharma, a former Reliance Group executive and a founding member of Indiatimes.com, with ex-colleague Vaibhav Odhekar. Prior to the $5 million round, it had raised around $3 million in multiple rounds.
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<a style="color: #ff0000;" href="http://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/30738-30738/">India: POKKT hires Microsoft exec Dina D’Souza to drive sales; iSPIRIT’s Sanat Rao joins IDG</a>
<a style="color: #ff0000;" href="http://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/asia-dealbook-sony-buys-altair-200m-adways-invests-daylight-studios-mprest-gets-20m-series-30074/">Asia Dealbook: Sony buys Altair for $200m; Adways invests in Daylight Studios; mPrest raises $20m</a>
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Adways Inc has acquired Pocket Money an incentivised Android app operated by India-based rewarded video advertising platform POKKT.

India: Japanese firm Adways acquires POKKT's reward-based app Pocket Money

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India: Japanese firm Adways acquires POKKT's reward-based app Pocket Money

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