- IMVU recently announced a strategic round of investment of more than $35 million from Structural Capital and NetEase. These are the details.
IMVU recently announced a strategic round of investment of more than $35 million from Structural Capital and NetEase, one of China’s leading internet and online game services providers, and other investors. And the investment will be used to fund product development and other initiatives to address the company’s growing businesses — which includes IMVU (the world’s largest avatar social platform) and WithMe Entertainment (a new user-generated platform in development for friendship and shared experiences).
The investment comes as IMVU reformed under the new parent company name Together Labs, focusing on creating products that redefine social media as a catalyst for authentic human connections. And this formation positions Together Labs as a leader and innovator in technologies that empower people worldwide to connect with friends, find community, and create peer to peer economies.
Last year, IMVU saw record growth and engagement with over 7 million monthly active users. And the app also saw a record 400,000 products created every month by IMVU users last year. Together Labs also owns VCOIN — which was launched earlier this month and enables users to buy, gift, earn and transfer a digital asset off the IMVU platform to convert it to fiat.
KEY QUOTES:
“With IMVU’s accelerating growth over recent years, the launch of VCOIN, and the development of the new WithMe platform, we felt timing was right to bring all of these products under a new roof to reinforce our commitment for creating authentic human connections in virtual spaces. We appreciate the confidence this major investment represents led by NetEase and other investors. The formation of Together Labs, is a new chapter for the company allowing us to aggressively pursue our vision of immersive social metaverses where authentic friendship and peer to peer commerce thrive.”
— Daren Tsui, Chief Executive Officer at Together Labs
“Together Labs is perfectly positioned for explosive growth in a new entertainment genre that sits at the cross-section between social media and gaming. We are impressed with IMVU’s growing business and believe new initiatives such as VCOIN and WithMe will propel Together Labs to become a dominant player in the social gaming and interactive entertainment era.”
— Kai Tse, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Structural Capital
