Snaps!, the mobile app that invites users to create and share virtual, branded images, announced today a $2.25 million angel funding round led by Steve Kantor of S2K. Additional investors include Ben Barokas of Google, Michael Kassan of MediaLink, Mike Katz formerly of Yahoo, Jonathan Carson of Vevo, Leo Hindery Jr. formerly of AT&T, Bill Lohse formerly of Ziff Davis Publishing, Jay MacDonald of Digital Capital Advisors, David Dolgen of Dolgen Ventures and Adam Quinton of Lucas Point Ventures.

Snaps also announced the addition of Andy Levitt as President. Levitt brings more than 20 years of sales, marketing, strategy and operational leadership to the Snaps team, and will be focused on architecting and executing the company's growth plans.

With the mobile ad market projected to reach $7.3 billion in 2013, today's investment will enable the Snaps sales and engineering teams to expand in order to serve the massive demand from brands and agencies that wish to engage mobile consumers in new and measurable ways.

'Today, visual engagement and image sharing online drives affinity and conversion for brands. We built Snaps to help innovative companies capitalize on this trend by empowering their customers to interact with a brand through creative and easy-to-share branded imagery - be that a product, animated character, logo, visual hashtag, or drawing,' said Vivian Rosenthal, Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Snaps. 'Users are incredibly loyal to brands, entertainers, and products that they love. Our platform allows consumers to express themselves in a branded context while the brands benefit from the passion, creativity and influence that occurs amongst their audience.'

Through its immersive social advertising platform, Snaps turns users into brand ambassadors across the app and social networks including Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr. The company previously raised $1.1 million in April 2011 under the name GoldRun from investors including Jeremy Zimmer of United Talent Agency and Ed Matthias of the Carlyle Group.

'There are hundreds of millions of images shared via mobile device each day, yet many photo-based platforms are struggling to realize revenue from these efforts. Snaps monetizes photos through a new type of engagement: real consumers creating authentic photo-based advertising that moves beyond the more passive Like, Comment or Heart,' said Jonathan Carson.

Mike Katz added, 'What has me so excited about Snaps is that it so effortlessly intersects key trends like mobile and social, with native. As everyone is looking beyond the banner these days, Snaps is seeing very real traction with brands, entertainers, and sports teams. Driving genuine engagement as well as ROI on mobile is far from trivial and Snaps is one of the few companies I have seen that is really getting it right.'

About Snaps!

Snaps! is a mobile application that invites users to create virtual, branded images and seamlessly share their creations, or 'Snaps', across their favorite social networks. With Snaps, brands increase consumer engagement by enabling fans to become content creators and brand ambassadors themselves.

Snaps has created mobile marketing campaigns for dozens of brands including Nestle, Kraft, The Baltimore Ravens, The NY Giants, Fox Studios, Sony Pictures, Sofia Vergara, NBC Universal, AwesomenessTV, Showtime, and The Travel Channel.

The free Snaps mobile app is available for iOS and Android at http://get.snapsapp.com