Mobile newsreading app SmartNews has raised a $10 million bridge round, led by mobile-social gaming company Gree, at a $320 million pre-money valuation. The app originally launched in Japan, but crossed the Pacific in August. SmartNews* uses machine learning to show readers trending news articles from content partners, of which it has more than 150 worldwide and more than 75 in the U.S. Co-founder Ken Suzuki told Re/code the company is “doubling down” in the West and will soon start monetizing through in-app ads, as it already does in Japan.
* Disclosure: Re/code, NBC News and MSNBC (the last two of which are owned by Re/code minority investor NBCUniversal) are SmartNews partners.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
