Industry leader in mobile loyalty secures investment led by UV Partners with participation from prior investors Novak Biddle and Blacksmith

Sennari Entertainment, a leader in mobile entertainment and loyalty applications, announced last week that it has closed on a $5 million round of Series B funding led by UV Partners with prior investors Novak Biddle Venture Partners and Blacksmith Capital also participating. The company will use the funds to further build out its mobile loyalty platform as well as its groundbreaking PrizePlay™ and Blingadero Rewards™ Services.

As part of the investment, Carl Ledbetter, a General Partner at UV Partners, will join Sennari’s Board of Directors. Prior to joining UV Partners, Ledbetter was senior vice president of engineering, research and development at Novell, Inc., where he was responsible for Novell's Venture Fund, and president of AT&T's Consumer Products Division.

“In getting to know Sennari we were very impressed with the team’s vision and expertise in telecom, media and mobile entertainment. We believe the company’s loyalty and CRM platform and services are sorely needed in the wireless space,” said Ledbetter. “Sennari has assembled the right team to execute on the vision of enhancing the customer experience in the wireless entertainment and applications market, and we’re excited to join them in this effort.”

“The team at UV Partners is first class in every way. Their real-world company building experience combined with their deep understanding of technology is going to be invaluable to Sennari,” said Bill Barhydt, Sennari CEO. “Our entire team is excited to be working with UV and we’re all looking forward to building a hugely successful business together.”

Ledbetter joins current Sennari board members Bill Barhydt, CEO of Sennari, Phil Black of Blacksmith Capital and Tom Scholl of Novak Biddle Venture Partners.

Sennari’s services offering includes Blingadero Rewards™, PrizePlay™ and PrizePlay Arcade™, designed to reduce churn, and create new revenue streams enabling carriers and content publishers to easily deliver compelling games and entertainment content to mobile devices, capture key customer data and establish lasting relationships with customers. PrizePlay™ games will be available beginning in early Q4 throughout the Americas and Europe.

In June, mobile virtual network operator amp'd mobile® announced that it will use Sennari's MLCS platform as a white label loyalty and rewards solution when they launch later this year. Through Sennari, amp'd customers will have access to a range of value-added programs that include loyalty points for spending, games with loyalty point prizes and rewards for sharing content with friends.