Brazilian developer Vostu, best known for its releases on locally popular Google-owned social network Orkut, has raised $30 million from Accel Partners and Tiger Global Management.
Both of the developer's new investors have shown interest in social game companies in the past -- Accel previously backed Playfish before its acquisition by Electronic Arts for as much as $300 million last year, while Tiger has injected cash into FarmVille developer Zynga.
This round of funding, which was advised by investment firm Allen & Co., brings the total amount Vostu's raised in the past six months to some $50 million. The company intends to devote this new financing to further expanding its operations in Brazil. It currently has around 220 employees.
Launched in 2007, Vostu is headquartered in New York City and has offices in Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires. It initially launched as a social network but shifted its focus last year to creating social games for Orkut, which has a sizable audience in Latin America despite its lack of popularity in the U.S.
The firm's releases include MiniFazenda (a virtual farm simulator similar to FarmVille), Vostu Poker, Pet Mania, Cafe Mania, and most recently Rede Do Crime. As of September 2009, its catalog has attracted a total of 20 million monthly active users.
"Vostu is profitable and well-capitalized and continues to grow at an extraordinary pace," says Vostu's CEO and co-founder Daniel Kafie according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.
I'm wondering, why people are so jealous? Everybody know, raise capital is so complicated, so if they are doing it, good for them, because believes that your idea or company is profitable, another thing is try to convince someone else that's really true!!! Guys from Vostu has ALL my admiration... and good luck for them!!!
yea no kidding. There was a little company a while ago called Microsoft... that made an os inspired by another company's product, you might have heard of it, it's called Windows...?
Erm, I am not saying stuff like Half-Life being a Doom clone.
More like, the list of products being exactly the same, and they work in the same way, and etc... And in the end the only difference is the name (not always, in case of Zynga, that dared once to steal someone else name too) and marketing.
I mean, obviously it is giving money now, but if a company is totally unable to make a new product, why invest on them?
Microsoft was mentioned here for creating Windows (blatant copy of stuff from Xerox), except that Microsoft already had their own original products at the time (like a BASIC interpreter that came with new IBM-PC machines), and that those products sold quite well, and that they not only were, they still are, the flagship of Microsoft (if you research around, you will see that Microsoft is not even really serious in curbing Windows piracy, because their money come mostly from MS Office and Visual Studio sales)
Even Dynacom (a brazillian company that sell console clones) sell other stuff, like telephones, portable video players, locally made Dingoo, etc... they don't rely solely on their NES clones (that they manufacture since 20 years ago or something).
I mean, ALL vostu products are copy of Zynga products, and those in turn are copy of someone else products.
More like, the list of products being exactly the same, and they work in the same way, and etc... And in the end the only difference is the name (not always, in case of Zynga, that dared once to steal someone else name too) and marketing.
I mean, obviously it is giving money now, but if a company is totally unable to make a new product, why invest on them?
Microsoft was mentioned here for creating Windows (blatant copy of stuff from Xerox), except that Microsoft already had their own original products at the time (like a BASIC interpreter that came with new IBM-PC machines), and that those products sold quite well, and that they not only were, they still are, the flagship of Microsoft (if you research around, you will see that Microsoft is not even really serious in curbing Windows piracy, because their money come mostly from MS Office and Visual Studio sales)
Even Dynacom (a brazillian company that sell console clones) sell other stuff, like telephones, portable video players, locally made Dingoo, etc... they don't rely solely on their NES clones (that they manufacture since 20 years ago or something).