• October 7, 2008

Appssavvy, which helps connect application developers with advertisers and agencies, has raised $3.1 million in first-round venture financing led by True Ventures, with prior investor Scott Kurnit, founder of About.com, also participating.

With the funding, CEO Chris Cunningham said in a statement that the New York-based startup would continue to build out its sales and marketing team and expand relationships with developers, Web publishers, and brands and agencies.

NBC Universal last week tapped appssavvy as its exclusive sales rep for several upcoming social initiatives including its news-focused app for Facebook called iCue.

Appssavvy's 16-person team already represents inventory on various applications reaching over 50 million unique users, including 15 of the top 20 Facebook apps. It's also working with more than a dozen agencies such as Universal McCann and Palisades Media Group.

EMarketer predicts that advertisers will spend $40 million in widget and applications this year--up from just $15 million last year. But that's still only a tiny fraction of the expected $25 billion in online ad revenue this year. And even that amount could end up shrinking if marketers cut back on experimental spending because of the economic downturn.--Mark Walsh