GGV leads $10m round for gamer-focused networking platform

The eight-year-old company also obtained $6 million in venture debt from Multiplier Capital, according to a statement. The new financing will be used to continue development of its new product, Curse Voice, and other technology services. Hans Tung, managing partner at GGV, will joining the Curse board.

Curse Voice, which adopts a similar business model to Chinese social networking service YY, is a multi-player voice communications platform that allows gamers to chat securely. Since mid-June, it has built up one million monthly active users and expects to have 10 million users by the end of this year.

YY, which has an 84% market share in real-time voice communications in China, allows group-based engagement between users through voice, text and video. The company raised several rounds of funding from a handful of VC investors - including GGV - before raising $81.9 million through a US IPO in 2012.

"We are excited to work with Hans and the GGV team because they have been helping to build global gaming companies for more than a decade. They also bring extensive experience with diverse business models that focus on user experience - which is what Curse is all about," said Hubert Thieblot, CEO of Curse.

Tung told The Wall Street Journal that the messaging chat systems popular in China will also be relevant to gamers from other parts of the world. Last month, GGV and Legend Capital joined a $50 million round for Wish, a San Francisco-based mobile shopping app operator, with a view to connecting Chinese clothing suppliers with US and European consumers.

GGV - which has offices in Silicon Valley and Shanghai - closed its fifth fund at $620 million in May.

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• Topics
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• Greater China
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