MONTREAL--(Marketwire - May 10, 2010) - Woozworld, a virtual world for tweens (ages 9-14) with over 350,000 members and one million user-generated virtual spaces, announced today the completion of a $3 million Series A financing round. With this new funding, Woozworld will be spinning off from virtual world developer Tribal Nova Inc., which incubated and launched Woozworld in December, 2009, to become a standalone entity. The Company intends to continue developing and promoting its Web 2.0 virtual world where tween users actually build an entire world where they creatively engage with their peers, design their own spaces, set up the activities they choose and even manage their own business. iNovia Capital and ID Capital, a division of Telesystem Group, led the funding.
"We are ready to take Woozworld to the next level by expanding the features offered to users, accelerating our market traction and continuing to establish our company identity," says Woozworld President & CEO Eric Brassard. "Woozworld's full potential can only be achieved by having the proper funding and a team focused 100% on growing the user base. The company's recipe uniquely blends of UGC enabling developments with extensive database marketing. This naturally led to Woozworld's complete autonomy and flexibility to realize its high potential and already successful plan."
Tribal Nova launched Woozworld in December of 2009, with just fifty admin-generated virtual spaces, to replace its previous effort at developing a virtual world for children, Kid Studio. The world has grown massively and organically in the time passed since the launch, with users having built up over one million spaces in just four months. Currently, the average user is between 9 and 14 years old with sessions of forty-five minutes long, with over 70% of daily traffic made up of returning users.
"Woozworld has what it takes to be the category leader in the tween virtual world space," says Chris Arsenault, Managing Partner at iNovia Capital. "Eric Brassard and his team breathe, eat and dream usage metrics and user experience 24 hours a day. If there is one team out there able to measure user behavior and cause action to increase conversion it's them! Woozworld's audacity, creativity and focus on user analytics is what makes us believe they will be the category leader in the tween virtual world space."
Woozworld also announced that Chris Arsenault of iNovia Capital and Daniel Cyr of ID Capital will be joining its Board of Directors.
About Woozworld
Woozworld Inc. is a developer and operator of virtual worlds. A recent spin-off from Tribal Nova Inc., the company markets and operates Woozworld.com an innovative global web 2.0 virtual world for tweens that is built and led by its users. Its unique environment evolves continuously and allows users to create space, run activities and do business among countless other things. The company has a highly experienced team with exceptional credentials in producing casual games, MMOG and virtual worlds for kids, as well as in marketing and business intelligence. For additional information, please visit www.woozworld.com.
About Inovia Capital
iNovia provides venture capital to entrepreneurs who transform innovations into successful companies. The team is comprised of sector experts focused on Mobile, Consumer Internet, Internet Communications, Software and Digital Media. iNovia has $165M under management across two seed and early stage IT and Life Sciences funds. For more information, visit www.inoviacapital.com or follow iNovia on Twitter at http://twitter.com/iNovia.
About ID Capital
ID Capital is part of the Telesystem Group, which also includes two other venture capital management firms: Propulsion Ventures and Argo Global Capital. ID Capital was founded in 2006 by Telesystem, who is also a lead investor in the funds that it manages. Its creation represents a natural evolution for Telesystem, which had already invested in many start-up enterprises during the last 20 years. For additional information, please visit www.IDCapital.ca.
Contact Information:
Editorial Contact:
On Behalf of Woozworld
Jessica Hasson
(323) 710-3556