PaeDae, a premier mobile rewards and advertising startup, announced today that it was able to raise USD11.6 million in new funding in an equity and debt round. TechCrunch said PaeDae founder and chief executive officer Rob Emrich refused to specify the ratio of equity and debt received. On the other hand, the startup did say that over 20 strategic and angel investors participated in the funding round, including Ed Ojdana, 3G Capital, Grind Games, and Silicon Valley Bank.

Ojdana said, "PaeDae's ability to combine technological innovation with top-notch creative makes it a force to be reckoned with in the mobile advertising space. I'm thrilled to be involved as they realize their vision of providing brands and developers with an impactful way to engage consumers."

Emrich explained to TechCrunch about its recent round, who said, "One of the reasons that we decided to go with this approach is that our sales are very strong, our revenue is very strong, we've fielded multiple acquisition offers. We wanted to preserve our opportunities and whatever options were available to us. Debt allowed us to do that in a way that equity couldn't."

According to a press release by the startup, proceeds from the recent round will fund PaeDae's expansion funds, accelerating steps to become a robust user-centric advertising and monetization platform for app developers and brands. Moreover, the startup also said that the funds will help PaeDae augment its proprietary mobile user-attribution technology, which had already won the startup campaigns from high-profile brands that include 7-Eleven, Hershey's, State Farm, and Time Warner Cable.

Emrich added, "In order to continue to meet demand for quality mobile ads from the advertiser and developer communities, we must extend our reach beyond rewards and into other forms of premium advertising. Our scope may change, but our core mission will remain to provide users with ads that are non-disruptive, contextual, and connective. Our user-centric model will enable us to apply the attributes of reward-based advertising to new mediums including mobile video, rich media, and app discovery."