• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, September 2, 2009

Mobile ad network Greystripe has landed a $2 million venture investment from Peacock Equity Fund--the joint venture of NBC Universal and GE Capital. The investment follows a $5.5 million third-round financing led by Incubic Venture Capital in March and brings the total raised to date by San Francisco-based Greystripe to $17.6 million.

Greystripe CEO Michael Chang said the new capital infusion would be used to continue expanding operations including the build out of its New York sales office and the launch of another in Chicago.

The company, which focuses on placing ads in mobile applications and games, now has some 400 publishers in its network and thousands of advertisers. Its platform reaches a U.S. audience of 5 million users and serves ads into more than 1,000 apps and games, according to Chang.

The Peacock Equity investment grows out of NBCU's prior collaboration with Greystripe, including its selection of the company to provide its entire catalog of games to NBCU's mobile Web sites including Bravo Sci Fi Channel (now SyFy) and NBC.com. Paul Lee, senior vice president for Peacock Equity, said Greystripe was the fund's second mobile investment and underscored the sector's growing importance to NBCU.

As to Greystripe in particular, he cited the ad networks ability to generate high interaction rates through full-page mobile ad units that aren't forced on users. "These guys are off the charts in terms of engagement and consumer responsiveness," said Lee.

A recent Gartner report projected mobile advertising globally will grow 74% this year to $913.5 million.