The digital environment finally comes of age in the UK as Ariadne Capital invests in NearGlobal and RealLife.
Ariadne Capital, Britain’s leading digital technology investment and advisory firm, today announced it is backing two UK virtual world companies, signalling the evolution of digital realities into a solid and exciting investment prospect.
NearGlobal is a company building high fidelity 3D replicas of real cities which function as portals for shopping, entertainment, social networking and education, whereas RealLife is a social networking application which gives school and college leavers a virtual world in which to experiment with possible careers while linking them to recruiters.
“We had been following virtual worlds, but weren’t convinced they were an attractive investment opportunity,” says Julie Meyer, CEO of Ariadne Capital. “That’s changing with the emergence of Virtual Worlds 2.0, where the user experience has a purpose, such as shopping or learning a trade, and is driven by a robust business model."
“Both Near Global and Real Life have strong propositions to take to market, with experienced management teams. They understand how to build environments and narratives that hook customers in a way that benefits users, commercial partners and investors,” continues Meyer.
Near Global
NearGlobal is using the very latest video games technology to map and recreate the world’s great cities as fully interactive online environments. Near Global’s Near London™ is scheduled for launch pre-Christmas.
“We’ve set out to put the world’s great cities in people’s hands in 3D so they can shop, play, explore and socialise through their digital devices just as they would if they were there,” emphasises NearGlobal co-founder Alex Wrottesley.
As part of the deal, NearGlobal has welcomed entrepreneur Marc Worth as an investor and non-executive Chairman. Worth and his brother Julian founded the fashion information channel WGSN.com which they sold to publishing group Emap for £140 million in 2005. A decade ago Julie Meyer helped Worth secure the funding needed to establish WGSN. “Now he is backing the next generation of entrepreneurs by investing in a young start-up and adding his tremendous networks and insight into building a global leading firm to Near Global,” says Meyer.
“Virtual worlds need to look great, work effortlessly and offer a clear proposition to business if they’re going to be taken seriously today by industries like fashion and entertainment,” says Worth. “NearGlobal is the first company I’ve seen that actually delivers on that promise.”
RealLife
Meanwhile, Real Life, run by Paul Flanagan, an Executive-In-Residence at Ariadne Capital since 2004, is launching a private Beta on Facebook in the coming days with a full launch scheduled for July.
RealLife, a 3D, avatar-driven Massive Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG) is also centred on a virtual London. Users earn virtual money and are challenged to get ahead through job simulations. At launch, the career option will be trading, with brokers able to deal on the major global markets via the Gnu Trade platform. Successful traders can purchase a range of virtual goods such as villas on the Riviera, fast cars or great clothes to enhance their virtual lifestyles.
“Video gaming has a huge following amongst teenagers and twenty-somethings of both sexes. It’s a medium they’ve grown up with and have an affinity for and we’re harnessing this to create a sophisticated virtual world that will allow young people to test drive their lives and careers,” says Flanagan.
This is the fifth funding round that Ariadne Capital has advised on or introduced new investors to successfully in the last six months.
