THQ Among Investors Putting $1.4M In Fingerprint's Mobile Learning Games

Educational mobile gaming startup Fingerprint Inc. has secured $1.4 million in funding from investors including publisher THQ, K2MediaLabs, Reed Elsevier and Suffolk Ventures, the company reports. Fingerprint seeks to provide fun, educational mobile games that can be shared between 4-to-7-year-olds and their parents, with built-in features that allow for easy message sharing and progress monitoring between generations, as well as a reward system that encourages kids to play more. In addition to four first-party titles currently in development for fall release on iOS, Fingerprint also plans to provide an SDK and platform for third-party developers to tap into these features, as well as taking part part of Fingerprint's app recommendation engine. "To succeed in this market, it’s critical to offer applications that are educational and fun, provide a way for kids and parents to have a shared experience, and leverage this shared experience to create new revenue opportunities for game developers," said Fingerprint co-founder and CEO Nancy MacIntyre, who previously served as executive VP at portable edu-game maker Leapfrog.