Tech firm IMVU Inc has secured $35 million in funding as it rebrands under its new parent company name, Together Labs.
The investment came from Structural Capital and Chinese tech behemoth NetEase. However, there was participation from other investors.
“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 Structural Capital co-founder and man 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.”
Together Labs aims to be an innovator in technology, helping to bring people together, to find friends and communities.
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As such, the company will use its newfound investment to fund the development of its products, such as avatar social platform IMVU and other initiatives.
Furthermore, Together Labs will fund WithMe Entertainment, a new user-generated platform that is being developed to bring people together to share experiences and form friendships.
“With IMVU’s accelerating growth over recent years, the launch of VCOIN, and the development of the new WithMe platform, we felt the timing was right to bring all of these products under a new roof to reinforce our commitment to creating authentic human connections in virtual spaces,” said Together Labs CEO Daren Tsui.
“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.”
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