Engage Digital Media

2009 Virtual Goods Investment Report

$1.38 Billion Invested in 87 Virtual Goods-Related Companies Worldwide in 2009

The 2009 Virtual Goods Investment Report, compiled by our www.VirtualGoodsNews.com blog, tracks virtual goods-related investments over the course of 2009. The report details more than $1.38 billion ($1,380,822,000) invested in 87 virtual goods-related companies. The news comes in advance of the Virtual Goods Conference @ Engage! Expo, taking place February 16-17, 2010 in New York City.

The investment amount represents more than three times the amount of money invested in the virtual goods space in 2008 when $408 million was invested. The total number of companies receiving investment money also increased year-over-year: 87 in 2009 compared with 34 in 2008, an increase of more than 100 percent. It is important to note that of the $1.38 billion invested for the year $398.3 million is acquisition related.

>> Continued reading the 2009 Virtual Goods Investment Report.

*** Review the more information column (far right) for additional details on each transaction.
*** Companies in red were involved in a merger or acquisition transaction.

Virtual Goods-Related Q1 Investments
Company	Segment	Goods	Currency	Ad Offers	Services	Unspecified	Amount	Named Investors	More Information
iLemon	Virtual World	X					Undisclosed	GSR Ventures	http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2009/01/ilemon-gets-investment-from-gsr-ventures-.html
IMVU	Virtual World	X	X				$10,000,000	Best Buy Capital, Menlo Ventures, Allegis Capital and Bridgescale Partners	http://www.virtualgoodsnews.com/2009/01/imvu-picks-up-10m-in-series-d-led-by-best-buy-capital.html
Ironstar Helsinki	Virtual World	X	X				Undisclosed	Michael "Monty" Widener	http://www.virtualgoodsnews.com/2009/02/mysql-creator-invests-in-ironstar-helsinkis-moipal.html
Meez	Virtual World	X					Undisclosed	Anthem Venture Partners	http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2009/01/meez-merges-with-pulse-raises-new-round-led-by-anthem.html
ngmoco	Mobile Gaming	X					$10,000,000	Northwest Venture Partners, Kleiner Perkins, Maples Investments	http://www.virtualgoodsnews.com/2009/03/10-mil-series-b-funding-for-iphones-ngmoco.html
Nurien	Virtual World	X					$10,000,000	Northern Light Venture Capital with Globespan Capital Partners, New Enterprise Associates (NEA), and QiMing Venture Partners	http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2009/01/nurien-raises-10m-in-series-a1.html
Offerpal Media	Ad Offers			X			$15,000,000	D.E. Shaw Ventures, InterWest Partners, North Bridge Venture Partners	http://www.virtualgoodsnews.com/2009/02/offerpal-secures-15-million-in-series-b-venture-capital.html
Ohai	MMORPG	X					$6,000,000	August Capital, Rustic Canyon Partners	http://www.virtualgoodsnews.com/2009/01/ohai-gets-funding-for-casual-mmo.html
OMGPOP	Online Gaming	X	X				$5,000,000	Bessemer Venture Partners, Baseline and Spark Capital	http://www.virtualgoodsnews.com/2009/01/onescorescom-nets-35-mil-in-venture-capital.html
OneSeason.com	Online Gaming	X	X				$3,500,000	Charles River Ventures	http://www.virtualgoodsnews.com/2009/03/omgpop-raises-5-mil-on-strength-of-virtual-goods-potential.html
OnRez	Transaction System	X					Undisclosed	Linden Lab	http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2009/01/qa-tom-hale-cpo-linden-lab-on-xstreet-sl-and-onrez-acquisitions.html
Scrapblog	Social Network	X	X				$4,000,000	Steamboat Ventures, Longworth Venture Partners	http://www.virtualgoodsnews.com/2009/01/scrapblog-closes-4-million-round-of-funding.html
Three Melons	Casual Games	X					$600,000	Santander Bank	http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2009/03/three-melons-gets-600k-for-unity-mmo-and-social-sports-game.html
Viximo	Content Delivery	X	X		X		$5,000,000	North Bridge Venture Partners	http://www.virtualgoodsnews.com/2009/04/viximo-repositions-as-content-provider-with-new-ceo-and-funding.html
Xstreet SL	Transaction System				X		Undisclosed	Linden Lab	http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2009/01/qa-tom-hale-cpo-linden-lab-on-xstreet-sl-and-onrez-acquisitions.html
mEgo	Online Avatars	X					$2,500,000	Undisclosed	http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2009/01/mego-raises-25m-for-avatar-identity.html
Gambit	Ad Offers			X			Undisclosed	Epinions, Naval Ravikant	http://venturebeat.com/2009/03/11/gambit-helps-game-developers-make-more-real-money-from-virtual-goods/
Gazillion	Virtual World	X					Undisclosed	Oak Investments, Allen & Company, Founder’s Fund, Hearst Corp. Investment Group, Revolution Ventures and UV Partners	http://games.venturebeat.com/2009/03/16/gazillion-to-launch-series-of-major-online-games-with-marvel-comics-characters/
Octopi, LLC	Online Game	X					Undisclosed	Sony Online Entertainment	http://www.virtualgoodsnews.com/2009/01/sony-online-entertainment-acquires-microtransactionbased-poxnora-.html
						Total:	$71,600,000

Virtual Goods-Related Q2 Investments
Company	Segment	Goods	Currency	Ad Offers	Services	Unspecified	Amount	Named Investors	More Information
BOKU	Mobile Payments				X		$13,000,000	Benchmark Capital, Index Ventures, Khosla Ventures	http://www.virtualgoodsnews.com/2009/06/boku-acquires-paymo-mobillcash-and-13m-investment.html
eRepublik	Social Games		X				$2,770,000	AGF Private Equity	http://www.virtualgoodsnews.com/2009/06/erepublik-finalizes-277m-round.html
FUHU	Social Avatars	X					$6,500,000	Acer Group	http://www.virtualgoodsnews.com/2009/05/65m-in-funding-and-acer-distro-deal-for-urfooz-parent-fuhu.html
OneTXT	Mobile Payments				X		$2,000,000	Metamorphic Ventures, KPG Ventures, New York Angels Fund	http://www.virtualgoodsnews.com/2009/06/onetxt-closes-2m-series-a-round-for-mobile-payments.html
Wonderhill	Social Games	X	X				$7,000,000	Charles River Ventures, Shasta Ventures	http://www.virtualgoodsnews.com/2009/05/wonderhill-takes-7m-for-familyfriendly-casual-games.html
Zoosk	Social Dating	X					$6,000,000	Canaan Partners	http://www.virtualgoodsnews.com/2009/06/zoosk-takes-6m-for-social-dating.html
Facebook	Social Networks	X	X		X		$200,000,000	Digital Sky Technologies	http://www.virtualgoodsnews.com/2009/05/facebook-takes-200m-investment-implications-for-virtual-goods-biz-loom.html
Vector Entertainment	Online Games		X				$5,000,000	Meakem Becker Venture Capital	http://games.venturebeat.com/2009/05/14/vector-entertainment-to-launch-3-d-flash-racing-game-site/
Linden Lab	Virtual World	X	X				Undisclosed	Stratim Capital	http://venturebeat.com/2009/06/16/investor-sneaks-into-second-lifes-equity-pool/
Tribal Nova	Online Games	X	X				$2,500,000	iNovia Capital, ID Capital	http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2009/04/tribal-nova-raises-25m-adds-more-media-partners-and-worlds.html
Heyzap	Payment Services				X		$500,000	Union Square Ventures	http://www.virtualgoodsnews.com/2009/06/heyzap-adds-microtransactions-to-flash-platform.html
Spare Change	Payment Services				X		Undisclosed	PlaySpan	http://www.virtualgoodsnews.com/2009/04/playspan-acquires-sparechange-micropayment-service.html
						Total:	$245,270,000

Virtual Goods-Related Q3 Investments
Company	Segment	Goods	Currency	Ad Offers	Services	Unspecified	Amount	Named Investors	More Information
Ning	Social Network	X					$15,000,000	Lightspeed Venture Partners	http://www.virtualgoodsnews.com/2009/07/ning-scores-15m-plans-virtual-gifts.html
Vindicia	Payment Services				X		$7,500,000	ONSET Ventures, Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments, DCM, Leader Ventures	http://www.virtualgoodsnews.com/2009/07/vindicia-secures-75m-for-payments-and-billing.html
Outspark	Online Games	X	X				$8,300,000	Syncom Venture Partners, SBI Investment, Mille Plateaux	http://www.virtualgoodsnews.com/2009/07/outspark-takes-83m-for-growth-and-acquisitions.html
Live Gamer	Transaction Services				X		$2,800,000	Undisclosed	http://www.virtualgoodsnews.com/2009/08/livegamer-raises-28m-in-side-car-financing.html
Smith & Tinker	Online Games	X					$29,000,000	Alsop-Louie Partners, DCM, Foundry Group, Leo Capital Holdings, and Vulcan Capital	http://www.virtualgoodsnews.com/2009/08/nanovor-startup-raises-29m.html
PaymentOne	Payment Services				X		$7,000,000	AER Investments LLC	http://www.virtualgoodsnews.com/2009/08/paymentone-takes-7m-strategic-round.html
Jambool	Payment Services				X		$5,000,000	Madrona Venture Group, Bay Partners	http://www.virtualgoodsnews.com/2009/08/jambool-takes-5m-second-round.html
Scoreloop	Social Network		X				$2,800,000	Target Partners, Earlybird Venture Capital	http://www.virtualgoodsnews.com/2009/08/scoreloop-takes-28m-round-for-expansion.html
Edo Interactive	Prepaid Cards				X		$8,500,000	Clayton Associates, First Avenue Partners	http://www.virtualgoodsnews.com/2009/08/edo-scores-85m-for-prepaid-facecards.html
Turbine	Online Games		X				$6,600,000	Undisclosed	http://www.virtualgoodsnews.com/2009/08/turbine-takes-66m-of-posed-50m-round.html
Riot Games	Online Games		X				$8,000,000	Tencent Holdings, Benchmark Capital, Firstmark Capital	http://www.virtualgoodsnews.com/2009/09/riot-games-scores-8m-round-from-tencent.html
Conduit Labs	Online Games	X	X				$3,000,000	Charles River Ventures	http://paidcontent.org/article/419-loudcrowd-parent-conduit-labs-raises-3-million-second-round/
Foursquare	Social Games	X					$1,350,000	Union Square Ventures, O'Reilly Alphatech Ventures, angel investors	http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/09/04/confirmed-foursquare-gets-135-million-to-play-with/
WebWars	Online Games	X					$5,000,000	Mike Heisley	http://venturebeat.com/2009/09/13/webwars-launches-weblings-game-that-makes-you-crawl-the-web/
Z2Live	Mobile Games	X					$3,000,000	Madrona Venture Group	http://games.venturebeat.com/2009/08/13/multiplayer-mobile-games-take-off-z2live-gets-3m-to-target-iphone/
Masher Media/MyMiniPeeps	Virtual World	X					$300,000	Angel investors	http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2009/08/myminipeepscom-out-of-stealth.html
Gambolio	Flash Games		X				$2,000	Alex Kearns	http://games.venturebeat.com/2009/07/10/gambolio-gaming-portal-takes-a-page-from-itunes/
Gravity Bear	Social Games					X	Undisclosed	Angel investors	http://venturebeat.com/2009/10/27/gravity-bear-launches-new-social-games-business/
Ironstar Helsinki	Virtual World	X					Undisclosed	Michael Wildenius	http://www.arcticstartup.com/2009/09/09/social-gaming-firm-ironstar-helsinki-launches-in-facebook-appoints-new-ceo/
Platogo	Online Games	X					Undisclosed	Seedcamp, City of Vienna Departure Program	http://venturebeat.com/2009/09/15/platogo-lets-you-create-online-games-and-share-them-with-friends/
Reality Gap	Online Games		X				Undisclosed	Undisclosed	http://venturebeat.com/2009/09/09/reality-gap-launches-battleswarm-based-on-new-online-game-platform/
Resistor Productions	Online Games	X					Undisclosed	Sanjay Reddy	http://games.venturebeat.com/2009/07/13/resistor-products-unites-facebook-and-web-site-gamers-in-disciple-online-game/
Roblox	Virtual World		X				$2,200,000	Altos Ventures, First Round Capital	http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2009/08/roblox-picks-up-22m-in-funding.html
Twinity	Virtual World	X					$4,000,000	BFB, Grazia Equity, Balderton Capital	http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2009/07/newsbrief-twinity-maker-metaversum-secures-4m-in-funding.html
TwoFish	Economy Services		X		X		Undisclosed	Live Gamer	http://www.virtualgoodsnews.com/2009/08/livegamer-acquires-twofish-.html
Super Rewards	Ad Offers			X			Undisclosed	AdKnowledge	http://www.virtualgoodsnews.com/2009/07/super-rewards-acquired-by-adknowledge.html
N-Cash	Payment Services				X		Undisclosed	Live Gamer	http://www.virtualgoodsnews.com/2009/07/live-gamer-acquires-koreas-ncash.html
MyMiniLife	Virtual World	X	X				Undisclosed	Zynga	http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2009/08/zynga-completes-myminilife-acquisition-.html
						Total	$119,352,000

Virtual Goods-Related Q4 Investments
Company	Segment	Goods	Currency	Ad Offers	Services	Unspecified	Amount	Named Investors	More Information
Aviary	Creation Tools	X					$7,000,000	Spark Capital, Bezos Expeditions	http://www.virtualgoodsnews.com/2009/10/aviary-takes-7m-for-usercreated-content.html
Sometrics	Currency Analytics			X	X		$4,400,000	Steamboat Ventures, The Mail Room Fund, Greycroft Partners	http://www.virtualgoodsnews.com/2009/10/sometrics-nets-44m-funding-round.html
Booyah	Social Games	X					$5,000,000	Undisclosed	http://www.virtualgoodsnews.com/2009/10/news-brief-social-developer-booyah-raises-5m-.html
Playdom	Social Games		X				$43,000,000	New Enterprise Associates, Rick Thompson, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Norwest Venture Partners	http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2009/11/report-playdom-funding-round-totals-43m.html
Gowalla	Social Games	X					$8,400,000	Greylock Partners, Reid Hoffman, Shasta Ventures, Maples Investments, Ron Conway, Kevin Rose, Gary Vaynerchuk, Shervin Pishevar, Jason Calacanis and Chris Sacca	http://www.virtualgoodsnews.com/2009/12/gowalla-raises-84m-for-locationaware-social-gaming.html
Tonchidot	Augmented Reality	X					$4,000,000	DMC, ITOCHU Technology Ventures	http://www.virtualgoodsnews.com/2009/12/tonchidot-takes-4m-for-augmented-reality-virtual-goods.html
Zoosk	Social Dating	X	X				$30,000,000	Bessemer Venture Partners, Canaan Partners, ATA Ventures	http://www.virtualgoodsnews.com/2009/12/zoosk-closes-30m-series-d-round.html
gWallet	Ad Offers			X			$12,500,000	Adams Street Partners, Trinity Ventures	http://www.virtualgoodsnews.com/2009/12/gwallet-gets-125m-for-ad-offers.html
RockYou	Social Games	X	X	X	X		$50,000,000	Softbank	http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2009/11/rockyou-raises-additional-50m-from-softbank.html
Six Degrees	Virtual World	X					$7,000,000	Time Warner Investments, Clearstone Venture Partners, Prism VentureWorks	http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2009/11/report-six-degrees-adds-7m-in-funding.html
Zynga	Social Games		X				$180,000,000	Digital Sky Technologies, Tiger Global, Institutional Venture Partners, Andreessen Horowitz	http://www.virtualgoodsnews.com/2009/12/zynga-scores-180m-digital-sky-technologies-investment.html
Rekoo	Social Games		X				$1,500,000	Infinity Venture Partners	http://www.virtualgoodsnews.com/2009/12/quick-stat-chinas-rekoo-gets-15m-for-social-games.html
LimeLife	Social Network		X				$1,000,000	Monitor Ventures, U.S. Venture Partners, Core Capital Partners, Rustic Canyon Partners	http://paidcontent.org/article/419-limelife-raises-another-1-million/
Zynga	Social Games		X				$15,100,000	Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers, Foundry Group, Reid Hoffman	http://paidcontent.org/article/419-zynga-adds-15.1-million-more-in-funding/
DAZ 3D / Gizmoz	3D Avatars	X					$5,300,000	Benchmark Capital, Highway 12 Ventures, Columbia Capital	http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/12/15/gizmoz-daz-3d-merges/
Giftango	Virtual Gift Cards	X					$1,400,000	Undisclosed	http://paidcontent.org/article/419-giftango-raises-1.4-million-for-email-mobile-gift-cards/
Atakama Labs	Online Games	X					$4,000,000	Austral Capital, COPEC-UC	http://venturebeat.com/2009/11/17/chilean-startup-focuses-on-games-for-social-good/
Aurora Feint	Mobile Games	X					Undisclosed	DeNA	http://www.virtualgoodsnews.com/2009/10/aurora-feint-partners-with-japans-dena.html
Next Island	Virtual World	X	X				Undisclosed	David Post	http://venturebeat.com/2009/11/23/next-island-to-launch-a-sci-fi-adventure-virtual-world-with-time-travel/
Open Entertainment Network	Payment Services				X		Undisclosed	LTI Global, Payletter	http://venturebeat.com/2009/10/12/open-entertainment-network-creates-parent-friendly-prepaid-game-cards/
Pugpharm	Social Games	X					Undisclosed	National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program, Telefilm’s Canada New Media Fund	http://venturebeat.com/2009/10/27/pugpharm-launches-snoget-a-next-generation-social-networking-game/
Sibblingz	Social Gaming Service	X					Undisclosed	YouWeb	http://venturebeat.com/2009/12/07/sibblingz-creates-platform-for-anytime-anywhere-social-games/
Playfish	Social Games	X	X				$300,000,000	Electronic Arts	http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2009/11/electronic-arts-acquires-playfish.html
Dacheng	Online Games	X					$80,000,000	KongZhong	http://paidcontent.org/article/419-chinese-mobile-content-company-kongzhong-acquires-mmo-developer-dacheng/
Friendster	Social Network	X	X				Undisclosed	MOL Global	http://www.virtualgoodsnews.com/2009/12/mol-global-acquires-friendster.html
SINA	Web Portal		X				$180,000,000	Sequoia Capital, Fountainvest Partners, CITIC Capital	http://paidcontent.org/article/419-report-pe-firms-investing-180-million-in-chinese-web-portal-sina/
Nival	Online Games	X	X				$5,000,000	Undisclosed	http://paidcontent.co.uk/article/419-russian-mmo-games-maker-nival-gets-5-million-funding-for-new-title/
Astrum	Online Games	X	X				Undisclosed	Naspers	http://paidcontent.org/article/419-more-mmo-ma-in-russia-naspers-buying-astrum/
Trippert Labs	Mobile Games	X	X				Undisclosed	Playdom	http://paidcontent.org/article/419-playdoms-big-round-fuels-first-two-acquisitions-iphone-facebook-game-de/
Green Patch	Social Games		X				Undisclosed	Playdom	http://paidcontent.org/article/419-playdoms-big-round-fuels-first-two-acquisitions-iphone-facebook-game-de/
GoPets	Social Games	X	X				Undisclosed	Zynga	http://www.virtualgoodsnews.com/2009/10/zynga-acquires-gopets.html
						Total	$944,600,000

						Year Total	$1,380,822,000