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$101M Invested in 13 Virtual Worlds-
Related Companies in Q4 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 $101 million in 13 virtual worlds related companies in the fourth quarter of 2008, bringing the total investment in virtual worlds related companies to over $594 million for 2008.

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.

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. 

Virtual Worlds-Related Companies Funded During Q4 2008
Editors Note:  News Story column links to a recent full article about the company
 
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 http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/11/worldscom-raises-481k-in-private-placement.html

About Virtual Worlds Management

Show Initiative LLC is the leading provider of trade events and media for virtual worlds and games. Show Initiative's Virtual Worlds Management division provides comprehensive media and events including Engage! Expo Conference (March 10-11, 2009 in New York) and 3D Training, Learning and Collaboration taking place April 20-21, 2009 in Washington DC. The company also publishes the Virtual Worlds Weekly email newsletter, the daily www.VirtualWorldsNews.com blog and the www.VirtualGoodsNews.com blog. More information about Virtual Worlds Management can be found at http://www.VirtualWorldsManagement.com   



Contact:

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

 

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