$161 Million Invested in 16 Virtual Worlds-Related Companies in 2Q 2008, $345 million invested in First Half of 2008

Virtual Worlds Management released a new report today tracking the virtual worlds-related investments of Q2 2008. $161 million was invested in 14 companies, not including two companies that were acquired for unknown amounts. Full List Here. This compares with $184 million dollars in 23 virtual worlds related companies during the first quarter of 2008.  That puts the total amount invested in the first 6 months of 2008 at $345 million.

Interestingly, neither of the companies that were acquired, GirlSense.com by IAC and PixVerse by hi5, have actually produced virtual worlds. The former is a virtual fashion site and social network and the latter produces apps for social networks. Both, however, have been discussed, or self-described, as  having potential for virtual worlds, showing an eye toward the future. 

Those, combined with 4 investments in pre-launch companies, highlight the still emerging nature of the industry.  Additionally, the Stanford Parallel Processing Lab received a $6 million investment (not included in final figure) from six tech industry leaders to work, in part, on the applications for parallel processing in virtual worlds.

With two more investments going towards peripheral interfaces and a major investment going to virtual world solutions provider and platform developer ngi group from NTT for future integration, I see excitement picking up for the potential of virtual worlds even if the current cycle of investment is down from Q1’s $184 million across 23 companies.  Investments are no longer simply being made in the consumer-focused, entertainment worlds, but in the surrounding products as well.

Notedly, though, the cycle was still bolstered by, respectively,  $40 million and $50 million investments in MMOG developers Turbine and Realtime Worlds. The most money is still being given to high-end, entertainment-focused gaming virtual worlds, but many more investments point to a future for the industry with broader implications, ranging from social applications to education to enterprise-level services.

Also important to note is a $200,000 investment in the Metaverse Mod Squad, which provides staffing and support services for virtual events. While the investment is smaller than many others, I find it significant that the industry is large enough for investment in a company based purely on providing support for virtual worlds users.

And while Q1 saw $16.03 million invested in eight youth-oriented virtual worlds, only  the GirlSense acquisition and a $1.9 million investment (not included in final sum) in Akoha for what is being called a Massively Multiplayer Online Learning Game could fit that bill in Q2. With so many youth-oriented worlds already in the market and almost as many on the way, it seems as if investors may be looking for other, less hotly competed, applications for virtual worlds right now.

While youth-oriented worlds will likely  drive adoption for the next year, at least, it seems that investors are looking farther off in the future

Comments

[SocialBang Chat rooms]

This is positive news for us as we've just started looking for investment.

[Concord Comet]

Hey .. I want some ... :-0