Vyng, an LA-based company focused on transforming how conversations start on mobile, announced today it has raised close to $3 million in seed round funding, led by March Capital Partners in a syndicate alongside BAM Ventures, HOF Capital, Inspiration Ventures, and others, including advisors Alex Chung (Giphy), Steve Martocci (GroupMe), and Mark Goldston (NetZero). The funding will allow the company to further its mission of starting better conversations on mobile by bringing emotion to the lock screen.

Understanding the limitations of traditional ringtones and caller ID, Vyng offers greater variety and personalization that add little moments of fun or inspiration to phone call initiation. With Vyng, users can set specific videos or channels as a global ringtone and personalize video ringtones for specific contacts. Through the app's Vyng Bomb feature, users can leave the choice up to their friends and have them set the video that plays when they call. Vyng's first app, Vyng Video Ringtones, has already hit one million downloads and 100 million videos played since its debut just a few months ago.

"The concept of communication on mobile has evolved quickly, allowing us to add emotion and richness to our conversations in so many different ways," said Paul Kats, Co-Founder/CEO of Vyng. "But despite this evolution, technology that enhances how we initiate conversations has remained unchanged - ring, ding, buzz, and an ever-increasing stream of unfettered notifications has remained the norm. Vyng's mission is to transform how all conversations start on mobile, and this round of funding will help us continue to improve our product for consumers and create more innovative types of mobile interactions."

Vyng's channels feature enables users to set channels of content as a ringtone to ensure they are receiving the latest trending content from any category - specific genre of music, animals, fail videos, nature, or even videos of Muppets rapping. This feature provides a unique opportunity for Vyng's content partners, who are now able to distribute video content on a new medium - the lock screen. Vyng will also be releasing a new feature called Publish My Channel, allowing anyone to create channels for others to set as ringtones.

"All of the innovation made in the communications space has been focused on conversations themselves, but very little innovation has occurred around the notification," said Jim Armstrong, Partner at March Capital Partners. "Vyng has a huge opportunity to transform the notification and ringtone space by providing a new social experience for consumers that adds emotion to the very first touchpoint of a conversation."

About Vyng

Vyng is an LA-based startup that transforms how conversations start on mobile by bringing emotion to the lockscreen. Vyng's video ringtones app lets users set video channels as their ringtone, playing a fresh video on the lockscreen with every call. Vyng boasts 100 million videos played across 200 countries since its launch in early 2017. The company is backed by March Capital Partners, a Google Ventures partner, and the founders of Giphy and GroupMe.

About March Capital Partners

March Capital Partners is a Santa Monica-based venture capital firm with one of the largest global funds in Southern California. Founded by industry veterans with over 50 years of investing experience, March Capital is unique in the Southern California market with its active investments in both early and late-stage companies in mobile, enterprise, infrastructure, gaming and other growth industries. The majority of March Capital's investments are with Southern California companies, with targeted positions in innovative global organizations. For more information, see http://www.marchcp.com/.