Nurien Gets $15M in Series A for 3D Social Networking

Korea-based Nurien Software has received $15 million from both American and Chinese investors, including Northern Light Venture Capital, Globespan Capital Partners, New Enterprise Associates, and QiMing Venture Partners. The financing will be used to launch Nurien's social networking platform and online games (mostly casual from the looks of it) beginning with a closed beta this month in Korea and ending with a full Chinese and Korean launch at the end of 2008 with a U.S. launch following in early 2009.

"Having the backing of first-tier marquee investors greatly validates the progress we have  made over the last few years,"  Taehoon Kim, co-founder of Nurien Software, said in a statement. "We are excited to partner with world class venture capital firms to build upon our vision of creating a revolutionary new way for people to express themselves, interact with friends, and play online."

From the trailer posted on Nurien's website, it seems like the platform will run on a downloadable client. That's an extra barrier to entry for casual games like Mstar and Runway, the dancing and fashion games that are shown, but the Unreal-based graphics do look fantastic and, so far, aimed at an adult audience.

According to the company's own description, the platform will also let users create  "3D objects and avatars [and "spaces"] that interact and network amongst each other via virtual worlds and the web," which should make a download (if there is one) more palatable.

"Nurien is one of the best examples of emerging, innovative companies coming from Asia that are taking their technologies to the global marketplace," said Eugene Yoo, Vice President of Globespan. "We are very excited about Nurien's vision.  We believe it is at the forefront of the intersection between virtual worlds, online gaming, and social networks, and it is a great addition to the prior investments we have made in these markets."

Comments

[Random User]

Is the nurien site blocked in the united states? I cannot seem to get a connection to it from many links from different websites.