Virtual Worlds Forum

There's an ongoing debate about how best to monetise virtual worlds, but one thing's not in doubt: the flow of investment into the virtual worlds space from two sources: venture capitalists (for commercial virtual worlds), and research grants (for medical / educational applications). The Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology in New Zealand is the latest beneficiary of the latter, receiving $500,000 for a new project exploring educational uses for Second Life.

US firm 8D World has raised "meaningfully more than $1 million" in its first-round of funding, from Spark Capital. The company is reportedly working on a massively multiplayer online game, although the company is in stealth mode, so hasn't given many details on its plans.

VC firm Lightspeed Ventures is emerging as one of the key players in the social games and MMO spaces, and analyst Jeremy Liew has just published some interesting research into monetisation of free-to-play MMOs and virtual worlds. The topline conclusion: the most successful examples can expect to generate $1-2 per active user every month.

MMOLG is a new acronym on me, but apparently it stands for Massively Multiplayer Online Learning Game. At least, that's according to Grockit, a US-based firm that's just raised $8 million in Series B funding to make one. It doesn't have a name yet, and details are sketchy, but apparently the idea is to create a space "where people can connect to learn from each other", and it's due to launch this Autumn. So far, the company has taken a total of $10.7 million in funding, after ditching its original business model of online exam prep classes. Is students teaching students the future for e-learning? We should find out when Grockit reveals more details... (via TechCrunch)

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has awarded more than $2 million in grants to 12 research teams examining the use of games and virtual worlds for public health initiatives.

IAC is certainly one of the companies to watch in the virtual worlds space, given its ownership of the Zwinky virtual world and its acquisitive strategy. The company has just bought Israeli firm StarNet Interactive, which runs the GirlSense fashion community for young girls.

According to VentureBeat, virtual world / MMO company World Golf Tour has raised second-round funding in "double-digit millions of dollars" (the company hasn't announced exactly how much). World Golf Tour is an interesting blend between a multiplayer online golf game, and a virtual world with social networking elements.

South Korean firm Nurien Software has secured $15 million of Series A funding, which it plans to use for the launch of its intriguing-sounding 3D social networking service platform later this year. The platform is actually based on videogame technology - Epic Games' Unreal 3 engine - but appears to be being used in this case for non-game content, with users creating avatars and 3D items within Nurien's world.

And still the virtual world funding announcements keep coming. The latest company to secure investment is German firm Metaversum, which has taken a multi-million Euro investment from Balderton Capital.

There might be an economic downturn on the way, but it's not stemming the flow of investment into the virtual worlds space just yet. The latest company to secure funding is Simmersion Holdings, which is launching a new virtual worlds platform called Mycosm later this year.

Is there any phrase more likely to get VCs flinging money at you than '3D Facebook chatrooms'? I don't think so. The company is Vivati, a US-based startup founded by former Electronic Arts exec Keith McCurdy.

I remember the first wave of web avatars back in 2000, when several firms were touting a future where 3D characters would accompany us on our web surfing. It didn't quite happen then. However, the social media boom makes the idea more appealing now. Gizmoz is one of the new startups hoping to capitalise, and it's just raised a fat funding round to do it.

More money flowing into the virtual worlds industry: French firm Chapatiz has bagged €350,000 from various investors, which it plans to use to continue the development of its Chapatiz.com virtual world for pre-teens, and also to expand to other countries.

Normally, news that a casual games developer had raised some VC cash wouldn't come within the scope of this blog. However, Three Rings could be different. The company, which is best known for web games like Puzzle Pirates and Bang Howdy, has raised $3.5 million in new funding.

More news of investment in the virtual worlds space. US firm EveryScape has secured a $7 million funding round (its second) led by Dace Ventures, and with participation from Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Draper Fisher New England, Draper Atlantic, and LaunchPad Venture Group.