The key thing for mobile games companies now is distribution and in many cases that means rolling out a platform.

But while the likes of Zynga, GREE and DeNA are fighting the platform war in strategic deals on a global scale, Israeli start up MoMinis has taken a different approach - it's gone bottom up.

And it seems to be working.

It's just raised $4.5 million in its second funding round, bringing its total to $9.2 million. Existing investors BRM Group and Mitsui Ventures provided the finance.

Tools to use

Using its simple game development tools, it's creating its own ecosystem. Studios or prosumers who make games using the free MoMinis Studios tools can then distribute them through MoMinis' PlayScape - Mega Game, if they're deemed good enough.

Currently only available on Android, according to Google , it's been downloaded in the 1-5 million range.

However, when you take into account the downloads of all the free-to-play games that integrate the platform, MoMinis claims the total is over 16 million downloads gained in three months.

All connected

There are over 50 games currently available within PlayScape - Mega Game - you have to install them individually if you want to play them.

But the value of MoMinis' vision is that all of them share achievements, as well as a unified in-game experience and currency, which is transferable between games.

This makes it simple for the company to use cross promotional incentives to drive activity to games as it sees fit. It also eases the process of getting people to buy currency as an in-app purchase as they can spend them across all the games they're playing.

And it's reflected in usage figures; the average Mega-Game session length is 25 minutes compared to an average of around 8 minutes for most mobile games reckons MoMinis.

Happy investors

"In a market where 99.99 percent of mobile apps languish and disappear, PlayScape offers a solution for mobile game developers, providing distribution and discoverability," said Eran Barkat, partner at BRM Group.

"With 15 million downloads in three months, MoMinis' platform is poised to become a market leader in this high growth market".

"We're thrilled by the vote of confidence and continued support from BRM Group and Mitsui Ventures," added Itzik Frid, MoMinis's CEO.

"We are happy to see that beyond its success in increasing user retention, distribution and discoverability, it's embraced by millions of users as an entertaining mobile experience."

[source: MoMinis]