Nurien Software, a Korean developer of social networking and online gaming services, has announced this week a Series A round of funding of $15 million. Investors in the startup comprise a mixture of VC firms from eastern and western reaches, including Northern Light Venture Capital, Globespan Capital Partners, New Enterprise Associates, and QiMing Venture Partners. The company plans for an official launch of its platform and offerings in both its home state and China by the end of 2008, followed by a US debut in early 2009. According to Nurien, the infusion will be used to hasten its launches later this year, the process of which begins this month in closed-beta form in Korea only.
The focus of the company is one of virtual social interaction and gameplay, a la Second Life. Users of its services will be able to do all the standard stuff of creating avatars and interacting with fellow participatants. They will also be given access to a games whose titles include: “MStar”, a dance-based development; “Runway”, which is centered on fashion; and “QuizStar”, a so-called “casual online game.”
Nurien is banking on an increase in demand for virtual networking and gameplay to achieve global success. The company references projections made by the industrial analyst Gartner and the research firm eMarketer - the first sees a virtual usership of 50 million in 2011 among all market players; the latter envisions 20 million young adults as visitors to such online environments by the same year. It also sees the expectation of IDC that China’s 2010 gaming revenues will reach $2.62bn, as well as Parks Associate’s prediction that US gaming will total some $3.5 billion in 2009, as reason to believe in strong launches in both Asia and America. If such figures prove accurate, Nurien’s outlook may be quite well calculated.
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