$1 Billion Invested in Virtual Worlds in the Last Year

$1 billion has been invested in 35 virtual worlds companies since last October, Virtual Worlds Management announced today as a lead up to the Virtual Worlds Fall Conference and Expo next week at the San Jose Convention Center. $196.8 Million was invested in 33 companies, with leadership from Redpoint Ventures, Charles River Ventures, Intel, and Rustic Canyon Partners. The rest of the money comes from two major deals: Disney's $700 million purchase of Club Penguin and Intel's recent $110 million acquisition of Havok, the 3D graphics provider that provides the physics inside of Second Life. For a complete chart of the investments across all the companies, view the chart here. There's more money going in to virtual worlds, business deals surrounding them,  and platforms being acquired all the time, so check back here for updates.