"SCVNGR has big ambitions and has been executing against some pretty aggressive benchmarks," said Maloney. "Seth Priebatsch and crew are mashing up gaming, social and mobile in ways that are changing the way consumers live and businesses attract, reward and increase loyalty with their customers."

So what is SCVNGR going to do in 2011? Well, the same thing we've always been doing: building the game layer on top of the world! It's all about bringing game mechanics from virtual worlds into the real one. To make life more fun, more social and more rewarding.

So try it out: anyone can play SCVNGR by checking-in, completing challenges and unlocking rewards wherever they go.

Businesses and brands, large and small, can ‘build' on the game layer by adding challenges and creating rewards at their locations. The goal? To increase engagement and loyalty among customers by making locations more fun.

"This partnership with Barry Maloney and Balderton Capital positions us perfectly to take the game layer mainstream in 2011. Their operational and global experience is just what we need to accelerate the SCVNGR growth curve even further," said Seth Priebatsch, Chief Ninja of SCVNGR.

"That and some great new stuff we're rolling out over the coming months. It's all quite awesome... and will likely be bright orange."