Big in Japan, Creator of Breakthrough Shopping App ShopSavvy, Names Board of Advisors

Dallas, TX (Vocus) March 9, 2010

Big in Japan, a Dallas-based idea factory for mobile applications, today announced the creation of a board of advisors that will include Eric Ver Ploeg and Allan Thygesen, co-founders of Palo Alto, Calif.-based Metric Ventures, and Philip Stehlik, founder of Snappr, which the company recently acquired. The board of advisors will provide advice and direction to Big in Japan as it prepares for its next stage of growth.

“Big in Japan has grown rapidly since its founding in September 2008, thanks in large part to the breakthrough success of ShopSavvy, the personal shopping companion for mobile users,” said Alexander Muse, co-founder of Big in Japan. “Eric, Allan and Philip bring a broad range of knowledge and experience that will assist us as we determine how to best build upon the foundation of success we have created.”

Ver Ploeg, co-founder and partner of Metric Ventures, is a successful venture capitalist and serial entrepreneur who has been a board member of 20 venture-backed startups. Prior to co-founding Metric Ventures, he spent seven years as a managing director at VantagePoint Venture Partners, heading the firm’s investment activities in the mobile sector. While at VantagePoint, he led 11 venture capital investments totaling $163 million, including follow-ons. Ver Ploeg’s investments and board seats include Spatial Wireless (acquired by Alcatel), OZ Communications (acquired by Nokia), UltraDNS (acquired by NeuStar), InnoPath, YouMail and Flipswap.

Thygesen, co-founder and partner of Metric Ventures, is a successful venture capitalist and serial entrepreneur. Prior to co-founding Metric Ventures, he was a managing director in the U.S. venture and growth funds of The Carlyle Group, where he led investments in 10 companies. Thygesen's investments and board seats include Canesta, Indigo Systems (acquired by FLIR Systems), Rhythm NewMedia, SMaL Camera (acquired by Cypress Semiconductor), Viator, and Novarra.

Stehlik, a pioneer in mobile barcode scanning, is the founder of San Francisco-based Snappr, which was recently acquired by Big in Japan. Prior to founding Snappr, Stehlik served as senior developer and project lead at ReadSoft US, where he implemented ReadSoft's SAP solutions at major U.S. corporations like Apple or Boehringer Ingelheim. Philip began his career at Ebydos AG in Frankfurt, Germany, where he was responsible for major product implementations at companies like John Deere, REHAU and Schneider Electric.

Ranking as one of the most popular apps on Android phones since its launch in September 2008, Big in Japan’s ShopSavvy became available on the iPhone in November 2009. ShopSavvy enables users to comparison shop on the go for more than 20 million products at more than 20,000 retailers worldwide, simply by scanning the product's barcode using the phone's built-in camera. Using the barcode information, ShopSavvy searches the Web for the best prices on the product, displaying the lowest prices online as well as at nearby brick-and-mortar retailers. ShopSavvy looks up product reviews to further assist with purchase decisions.

Mobile users may download ShopSavvy at one of the following links:

• ShopSavvy for iPhone: http://bit.ly/shopsavvyiphone
• ShopSavvy for Android: http://bit.ly/shopsavvyandroid

About Big in Japan:
Big in Japan Inc. is a Dallas-based idea factory for mobile applications, building software for Google’s Android, Apple's iPhone, Windows Mobile and other platforms and devices. Big in Japan's ShopSavvy application — a personal shopping companion — is one of the most popular applications on the iPhone and Android-based phones. Big in Japan was one of the original winners of the Google Android Challenge in September 2008 for its development of ShopSavvy. The application won a 2009 Netexplorateur of the Year award at the French Senate in Paris and was named Under the Radar’s Best App of 2009. Big in Japan was a finalist for the international MobileMonday Mobile Peer Awards as well as the 2008 Crunchies. For more information, visit http://www.biggu.com .

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