Gawkbox
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
GawkBox was a Seattle, Washington startup founded in 2016 by Chris Brownridge, Andrew Allison and Tony Chong, all former executives of mobile ad company Vungle. It built a 'sponsored tipping' monetization platform for live streamers: fans installed apps and hit engagement milestones such as leveling up a character, and the app developer paid a tip to the streamer, so fans could support creators without spending their own money. The company raised a $3.7 million Series A in August 2017 led by Madrona Venture Group, with London Venture Partners and Erlend Christofferson participating, and signed up more than 20,000 streamers. It shut down in the summer of 2019.
02 / Gawkbox FAILURE REASONS
Failure reasons
GawkBox shut down in the summer of 2019 after running out of funds. Despite raising $4.4 million in venture funding, reaching around 500,000 users and generating over $1 million in revenue, the startup spent heavily on marketing to buy that traction, and a series of operational mistakes left it unable to sustain the business.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Founding
GawkBox was founded in Seattle by Chris Brownridge, Andrew Allison and Tony Chong, former executives of mobile ad company Vungle, to build a 'sponsored tipping' platform for live streamers.
- Series A
The company raised a $3.7 million Series A in August 2017 led by Madrona Venture Group, with London Venture Partners and Erlend Christofferson participating; more than 20,000 streamers had signed up.
- Shutdown
GawkBox shut down in the summer of 2019 after running out of funds, despite reaching around 500,000 users and over $1 million in revenue. Founder Chris Brownridge later launched Silver Lining, a recruiting site for people affected by layoffs.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN
How the factors connect
- 01
In 2016 GawkBox was founded in Seattle by Chris Brownridge, Andrew Allison and Tony Chong, former executives of mobile ad company Vungle.
- 02
The company built a sponsored-tipping platform where app developers paid tips to live streamers when fans installed apps and hit engagement milestones.
- 03
In August 2017 it raised a $3.7 million Series A led by Madrona Venture Group, with more than 20,000 streamers signed up.
- 04
The startup grew to around 500,000 users and over $1 million in revenue, but spent heavily on marketing to buy that traction.
- 05
In the summer of 2019 GawkBox ran out of funds and shut down, laying off its team; founder Chris Brownridge went on to launch the recruiting site Silver Lining.
- 06
No loss amount beyond the reported fundraising and revenue figures is recorded.