Booyah raises $5 million for real-life app

Social game based on accomplishing real-life achievements gets a funding boost

Booyah has raised $5 million in a second round of funding that will inevitably go towards boosting the company's main product, a free social iPhone app called Booyah Society. A year ago, Booyah raised $4.5 million from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

Founded by a team of former Blizzard Entertainment employees, the Palo Alto-based company has often been compared to its massive gaming parent, most well-known today as the creator of World of Warcraft. In an answer on its FAQ page, Booyah tries to downplay similarities between Booyah Society and World of Warcraft; meanwhile, at the bottom of the very same page is a little box flashing through various press quotations praising the company's app, including this gem: "World of Lifecraft," pulled from the Apple Blog.

I agree with Booyah's original sentiment, however. The only similarity between the two social games lies in the attainment of various achievements. But then, what game isn't about achievement?

The unique thing about Booyah Society is that it involves achieving things in the real world. A lot of the travel achievements sound like things people would want to do anyway, like visiting the Roman Coliseum. Post from the Roman Coliseum, and you've received the Booyah Hotspot badge for the Coliseum.

Beyond that, though, most of the achievements involve interacting with the social network so as to share information or ideas you may have that fall under various categories. You can earn yourself the badge, 'God of the Gym,' for example, by receiving 3 Likes within 3 days for a Fitness post.

A lot of the badge titles sound silly, but it's the social network that really counts. If Booyah Society can attract a large, dependable, and active user base, then the app will have reached some success as a social app. The company has yet to say whether or not the new funding will go towards further development, marketing, or otherwise.