REDWOOD CITY, Calif.,
Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- IMVU
Inc. announced a strategic round of investment of more than
$35 million from Structural Capital,
NetEase inc, one of China's
leading internet and online game services providers, and other
investors. 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 Inc. reformed under the new parent
company name Together Labs, focusing on creating products that
redefine social media as a catalyst for authentic human
connections. 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.
"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," said Daren
Tsui, Chief Executive Officer at Together Labs. "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."
In 2020, IMVU saw record growth and engagement with over 7
million monthly active users. The app also saw a record 400,000
products created every month by IMVU users last year. Coming later,
WithMe is a new mobile platform that empowers social connection
through shared experiences in virtual spaces. Together Labs
also owns VCOIN, which was launched earlier this month and
enables users to buy, gift, earn and, for the first time, transfer
a digital asset off the IMVU platform to convert it to fiat.
"Together Labs is perfectly positioned for explosive growth in a
new entertainment genre that sits at the cross section between
social media and gaming," said Kai
Tse, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Structural Capital.
"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."
In 2020, IMVU, Inc. was recognized as a winner of the 2020 Bay
Area Best Places To Work, an awards program presented by the San
Francisco Business Times and the Silicon Valley Business Journal.
To learn more about open job opportunities, please visit the
careers website.
About Together Labs
Based in Silicon Valley, Together
Labs (formally IMVU Inc.) is a leading technology company dedicated
to empowering people to connect, create and earn in virtual worlds.
Together Labs' products represent the changing landscape of social
interaction and redefine human connection. With IMVU, the world's
largest avatar social platform and a top-5 grossing app in the App
Store, millions of users can customize their characters through a
growing catalog of 50 million community created items and explore
over 400,000+ destinations to connect to each other. Setting the
standard for the use of digital currencies in the metaverse, VCOIN
unlocks the full potential of virtual economies and solves the
unmet need for easy and secure global peer-to-peer payment.
Currently in development, WithMe is a new mobile platform that
empowers social connection through shared experiences in virtual
spaces.
About NetEase, Inc.
As a leading internet technology
company based in China, NetEase,
Inc. (NASDAQ: NTES; HKEX: 9999) is dedicated to providing premium
online services centered around innovative and diverse content,
community, communication and commerce. NetEase develops and
operates some of China's most
popular mobile and PC-client games. In more recent years, NetEase
has expanded into international markets including Japan and North
America. In addition to its self-developed game content,
NetEase partners with other leading game developers, such as
Blizzard Entertainment and Mojang AB (a Microsoft subsidiary), to
operate globally renowned games in China. NetEase's other innovative service
offerings include the intelligent learning services of its
majority-controlled subsidiary, Youdao (NYSE: DAO); music streaming
through its leading NetEase Cloud Music business; and its private
label e-commerce platform, Yanxuan. For more information, please
visit: http://ir.netease.com.
Media Contact:
Rogers and Cowan PMK
IMVU@rogersandcowanpmk.com
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SOURCE IMVU, Inc.