AppGratis has received its first-ever outside financing, in the form of $13.5m (£8.5m) in financing from investment firm Iris Capital, representing Orange and Publicis joint venture capital initiative.

AppGratis is an app discovery platform which providers users with targeted app recommendations and daily deals on paid apps, monetised through paid distribution – either on a cost-per-install or revenue share basis.

According to AppGratis, it will be using the money to hire more staff, expand its R&D efforts, and refine its technology, as it continues to expand internationally and attempts to establish itself as the worlds leading app discovery company.

AppGratis, which originally began in 2011 as an email newsletter, has expanded into its current form, averaging over $1m in monthly revenue, and over 100,000 new users per day. Last year, it drove over 100m referral clicks to the App Store.

“We’re helping developers build visibility for their apps at a time when the App Store can seem overwhelming with choices,” said AppGratis founder Simon Dawlat. “Our app recommendations are tailored over time to user preferences, which drives high success rates. When we feature an app, we can deliver over 500k app downloads that day. It’s a win-win for both developers and consumers.”