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$594 million Invested in 63 Virtual Worlds
-Related Companies in 2008

January 19, 2009 - Austin, Texas -- Virtual Worlds Management, the leading virtual worlds trade media company, has announced findings from a comprehensive study of accountable transactions showing that venture capital and media firms have invested more than $594 million in 63 virtual worlds related companies in 2008. Additional details on the state of virtual worlds and the investment climate will be discussed at the upcoming Engage! Expo taking place March 10-11, 2009 in New York City.

In Q4 we saw $101 million invested in 13 virtual worlds related companies. The number, while significant, continues a downward trend for investment in the space over 2008: Investments have declined from $184 million in Q1 to Q2's $161 millions to Q3's $148.5 million and now the most drastic drop. 

"The year wasn't bad for all sectors," said Christopher Sherman, Executive Director, Virtual Worlds Management. "Nineteen youth-oriented properties received over $70.47 million over the course of the year. The bulk of that was in Q1 and Q3. As more and more youth worlds came to market over the course of the year, spectators worried that the space was overcrowded. Others have seen it as a sector for opportunity, and it appears as if venture capitalists are still at least somewhat interested."

"For developers aiming at adults with virtual worlds, though, the year was a little slower," said Joey Seiler, Editor, VirtualWorldsNews.com. 'While big money seems readily available for developers creating massively multiplayer games (or game-heavy worlds depending on your perspective), companies aiming with more traditional worlds raised over $47.721 million for 11 companies.

2008 and Q4 in particular saw smaller investments in both gaming-oriented virtual worlds companies and broader, open-ended developers. That may be less a reflection on the virtual worlds industry in particular than the larger economic climate, with venture capital slowing down across the board. In fact, venture capital funding fell 30% in the fourth quarter of 2008, reports VentureSource.

VirtualWorldsNews.com has more analysis on these numbers here.

Virtual Worlds-Related Companies Funded in 2008
Editors Note:  News Story column links to a recent full article about the company
 
Q1 2008        
Company Segment Amount Named Investors News Story
9You Virtual World/Casual Games $100,000,000 Temasek Holdings http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/03/9you-gets-100m.html
C3L3B Digital Stealth $3,000,000 (may have totalled $4m) BlueRun Ventures http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/01/c3l3b-digital-g.html
Chapatiz Youth World $530,000 Angel Investors http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/03/french-virtual.html
Dizzywood Youth World $1,000,000 Shelby Bonnie and Charles Rivers Ventures http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/02/dizzywood-gets.html
EveryScape Mirror World $7,000,000 Dace Ventures, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Draper Fisher New England, Draper Atlantic and LaunchPad Venture Group http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/03/interview-every.html
Fix8 Avatar Content $2,000,000 SK Telecom http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/04/fix8-announces.html
FlowPlay Youth World $3,700,000 Intel Capital and Ambient Sound Investments http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/02/casual-game-wor.html
Fluid Entertainment Youth World $3,200,000 Trinity Ventures http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/03/fluid-entertain.html
Gaia Online Youth World Undisclosed, part of a $12M round Time Warner http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/01/time-warner-inv.html
Gizmoz Avatar Creation $6,500,000 DoCoMo Capital, Inc., and ngi group, inc. http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/03/avatar-company.html
Handipoints Youth World 800,000 Charles Rivers Ventures and Angel Investors http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/03/handipoints-rec.html
IGA Worldwide Advertising Network Almost $5,000,000 Translink Capital, Presidio STX, LLC (a subsidiary of Sumitomo Corporation), and ITOCHU Corporation http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/01/iga-gets-5m-fro.html
IGG, Inc. MMORPG Provider $4,500,000 IDG Technology Venture Investment http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/01/igg-gets-45mm-i.html#more
iOpener Mixed Reality $6,000,000 Triangle Venture Capital http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/02/iopener-gets-6m.html
Kadoink Middleware $7,000,000 Sutter Hill Ventures http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/01/telephony-and-w.html
Metaversum Mirror World "a significant multi-million-Euro investment"  Balderton Capital http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/04/metaversum-take.html
Numedeon Portfolio of Virtual Worlds Approximately $1,000,000 BankInter's Venture Capitol Group and Angel Investors http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/04/numedeon-closin.html
Outspark Publisher and Operator $11,000,000 Tencent Holdings, DCM, and Altos Ventures http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/01/outspark-raises.html
ROCKETON Youth World $5,800,000 D. E. Shaw Group http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/02/rocketon-draws.html
Simmersion Holdings Platform 1,900,000 Blue Cove Ventures http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/03/simmersion-hold.html
Sparkplay Media  Casual MMO/World with Games $4,250,000 Redpoint Ventures and Prism Ventureworks http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/02/sparkplay-gets.html
Unisfair Virtual Events Platform $10,000,000 Norwest Venture Partners and Sequoia Capital http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/01/unisfair-gets-1.html
YOOWALK Adult World Undisclosed CITA Gestion and Angel Investors http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/02/cita-gestion-in.html
TOTAL: $184,180,000
         
Q2 2008        
Company Segment Amount Named Investors More info
8D World Virtual world  platform developer $1 million+ Spark Capital http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/06/8d-world-receiv.html
Akoha Social game? $1.9 million Angel investors http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/04/akoha-gets-19m.html
GirlSense.com Fashion Virtual World Unknown Acquisition IAC http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/05/iac-acquires-gi.html
GoFish Ad/media network $1.5 million none http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/04/gofish-gets-15m.html
Grockit MMO Learning Game $8 million Integral Capital and Benchmark Capital http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/05/grockit-gets-8m.html
Metaverse Mod Squad Virtual World Support $200,000+ Angel investors http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/06/metaverse-mod-s.html
ngi group Solutions provider, platform devloper $15.7 million NTT http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/06/ntt-investing-1.html 
Novint 3D controllers/peripherals $5.2 million http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/06/novint-gets-52m.html
Nurien Software 3D social networking $15 million Northern Light Venture Capital, Globespan Capital Partners, New Enterprise Associates, and QiMing Venture Partners http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/04/nurien-gets-15m.html
PixVerse Virtual World Platform Developer Unknown Acquisition hi5 http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/07/hi5-acquires-pi.html
PlayFish Casual Games/Virtual Wolrds $1 million Accel Partners http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/07/playfish-gets-1.html
PrimeSense Gestural Interface $20.4 million Led by Canaan Partners with participation from existing investors Gemini Israel Funds (who also provided the seed funding) and Genesis Partners http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/05/prime-sense-get.html
Realtime Worlds MMOG Developer $50 million led by Maverick Capital with participation from previous investor New Enterprise Associates and new investor WPP http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/04/realtime-worlds.html
Seasky MMOG $3 million Perfect World http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/04/perfect-world-i.html
Stanford Parallel Processing Lab Parallel Processing for Virtual Worlds $6 million Sun Microsystems, AMD, Nvidia, IBM, HP, and Intel http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/05/stanford-gets-6.html
Turbine MMOG $40 million Led by Time Warner Inc. and GGV Capital with participation from existing investors, Highland Capital Partners, Polaris Venture Partners, Tudor Ventures and Columbia Capital http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/06/turbine-finishe.html
  Total $161 million
         
Q3 2008        
Company Segment Amount Named Investors More info
Gaia Online Teen and Young Adult World $11 million Institutional Venture Partners http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/07/gaia-online-get.html
Heatwave Interactive Online game developer $7.5 million Syncom Venture Partners http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/07/heatwave-intera.html
Hollywood Interactive Group Celebrity-themed virtual world for women $5 million ($2M of which were previously reported) BlueRun Ventures http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/09/hollywood-inter.html
Knowledge Adventure Kids educational worlds $5 million Led by Azure Capital and TeleSoft Partners http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/08/knowledge-adven.html
MindFuse Casual MMO/Virtual World $1 million convertible note Angel investor group Keiretsu Forum http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/10/mindfuse-raises.html
Monte Cristo Games Mirror world/online game $7 million Arts Alliance, 360 Capital Partners, and Innoven Partenaires  http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/07/monte-cristo-ga.html
ON24 Virtual events $8 million+ Part of an equity capital round led byU.S. Venture Partners, Canaan Partners, and Rho Ventures as well as an expansion capital round led by Gold Hill Capital http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/07/on24-gets-8m-in.html
RobotGalaxy Kids toy-based world $5 million+ Private placement http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/09/robotgalaxy-get.html
Six Degrees Games Tween sports-themed world $7 million Led by Prism VentureWorks and Clearstone Venture Partners http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/08/six-degrees-gam.html
Taatu Teen and Young Adult World $2.64 million BAMS Angels Fund with participation from international professionals in association
with the original investors Genesis Technology, Madian and SF Investments		 http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/10/taatu-announces.html
Trion MMO publisher $70 million Co-led by an unnamed large global financial institution and Act II Capital with participation from all previous investors, including first-round participants DCM and Trinity Ventures, and B-round investors Rustic Canyon, Time Warner, Peacock Equity, and Bertelsmann http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/09/trion-gets-70m.html
Ukash Payment methods (used in virtual worlds and elsewhere) Approximately $14.4 million Blue Label Telecoms (via subsidiary Gold Label Investments) and DataCash http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/09/ukash-gets-inve.html
Virtual Tweens Tween Green-themed World $1 million Private investors http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/10/ekoloko-launchi.html
Webcarrz Flash-based virtual world developer in stealth mode $4 million Meakem Becker Venture Capital http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/08/webcarzz-gets-4.html
YoVille Virtual world on Facebook Undisclosed acquisition Zynga http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/07/zynga-aquires-f.html
Total $148.54 million
         
Q4 2008        
Company Segment Amount Named Investors More info
Playdo Youth Casual MMO About $4.3 million Miniclip Ltd. and Northzone Ventures http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/12/playdo-gets-43m-from-miniclip-and-northzone.html
FooMojo Virtual Pets/Virtual World $9.9 million SoftBank Capital and SoftBank Corp http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/12/foomojo-closes-99-million-in-series-a.html
GoFish Advertising $22.5 million Led by Panorama Capital, Rustic Canyon Partners and Rembrandt Venture Partners http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/12/gofish-gets-225m-in-financing.html
IGG Casual MMO $10 million Led by the Vertex Group and joined by Hearst Interactive Media and IDGVC http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/12/igg-raises-over-10m.html
Machinima.com Machinima  $3.85 million MK Capital http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/11/machinimacom-gets-385m-from-mk-capital.html
Metaplace Virtual World Platform $6.7 million Charles River Ventures, Crescendo Ventures,  Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/10/metaplace-raises-67m.html
Playfish Social games for networks, MMOs, and virtual worlds $17 million Accel Partners and Index Ventures http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/10/playfish-raises-17m-for-social-games.html
PlaySpan Virtual Goods Marketplace $16.8 million Easton Capital Group, Menlo Ventures, Novel TMT Ventures, and STIC http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/11/playspan-raises-168m-in-series-b.html
Second Interest Virtual World Developer $500 thousand Angels http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/10/second-interest.html
Sun Inc. Virtual World Development $1.847 million ngi group http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/11/sun-inc-files-for-bankruptcy-ngi-invested-185m-last-month.html
TwoFish Virtual goods and economies $4.5 million TriplePoint Capital, Rustic Canyon, and Venrock http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/10/twofish-gets-45.html
Wix.com Flash Tool/Virtual World Developer $3.5 million Mangrove Venture Capital and Bessemer Venture Partners http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/10/wixcom-gets-35.html
Worlds.com Virtual World Platform $481 thousand private placement http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/11/worldscom-raises-481k-in-private-placement.html
  TOTAL $101,878,000    

 TOTAL FOR 2008:                                            $595,598,000

 

About Virtual Worlds Management

Virtual Worlds Management provides comprehensive media and events including Engage! Expo (March 10-11, 2009 in New York City), Virtual Worlds London (October 20-21, 2008), and Virtual Worlds Expo. The company also publishes the Virtual Worlds Weekly email newsletter and the www.VirtualWorldsNews.com blog. More information about Virtual Worlds Management can be found at http://www.VirtualWorldsManagement.com.


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Tim Williams
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tim@showinitiative.com
512-289-8687

 

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