Tap.me is one of the latest to tackle in-game mobile game monetization, with a recent launch of its new ad company and $1 million in funding.  With David Cohen as an investor, Tap.me’s early support isn’t taking root in the Valley, but in advertising’s capital—Chicago.

With the funding, Tap.me can continue developing its ad platform, iComplishments.  It allows game developers to tag content, which is sponsored by relevant advertisers.  These ads are contextualized with game play, not getting in the way of a player’s experience.  It’s also a direct way for brands to interject their themes into a mobile game, and finding highly interactive ways to connect with gamers.

Tap.me’s founder and CEO, Josh Hernandez, is tapping his own cultural experiences, including his childhood in Peurto Rico and college drama classes, to inspire creativity in his business.

“I love video games,” Hernandez tells me, when I ask why he founded his own company.  And the decision to create a mobile advertising solution around them was a journey all its own.  Hernandez initially wanted to make video games, but found himself wanting to develop a solution to monetizing his product.  “I came into it with a background in advertising,” Hernandez continues, “but I didn’t like the way it was being handled.”

Many developers and game publishers would agree with Hernandez, despite the booming opportunity around the mobile gaming industry.  It’s something everyone seems pretty excited about, but they just don’t know what to do with their adolescent understanding of the industry.  Mobile platforms offer a fresh chance to capture an engaged audience, but the infrastructures around mobile games is still a very immature market.

The battle for the mobile sector isn’t taking place around the operating systems alone.  A major victory in dominating here is figuring the best way to monetize it.  Mobile app market seem a promising trend, but it’s merely a foundation from which new channels will spring.

We’re seeing this occur on multiple levels, with several entrants marking their territory.  The platform owners, like Apple and Google, get their cuts of the marketplace sales, with Google’s recent support of in-app payments further encouraging developers to incorporate more point-of-sales options for end users.

Mobile game ads are trying a few things on for size, with companies like Super Rewards striving beyond display ads racking up accidental thumb clicks during game play.  Adknowledge’s latest launch brings Super Rewards’ virtual goods system directly to Android games.

Hernandez, too, wants to preserve the end user’s gaming experience, bringing a fellow gamer’s perspective to the presentation and interaction of mobile ads.  “I wanted to find a more effective way to implement ads in games, not interfering with game play,” he explains.  It’s central to Tap.me’s business, and a value Hernandez keeps dear to his heart.  It’s the mantra that keeps Tap.me focused on the game, and monetizing from there.

iComplishments Problem/Solution from Tap Me on Vimeo.