Viximo raises $5 million, replaces CEO for virtual goods business
Viximo has raised a $5 million round of funding and appointed an acting chief executive.
Rob Frasca, the former chief executive, left the company and is pursuing other options. Dayna Grayson of North Bridge Venture Partners stepped in a month ago as acting chief executive of the Boston-based company. North Bridge led the round and Sigma Partners also participated.
The company focuses on providing virtual goods created by a pool of 3,000 digital artists. Viximo’s partners sell the virtual goods in apps that run on social networks — much like Facebook’s virtual gifts platform. Brian Balfour, founder and vice president of marketing, said in an interview that the rest of the executive team is still on board.
Balfour said he was excited to see virtual goods succeeding not only in Asia but in the North American market as well. The company has about 20 employees. Content partners include Beelya, as well as an unnamed talent agency that is focused on celebrity item sales. Overall, its dozen or so publisher partners can reach about 20 million monthly users.
The company competes with rivals such as Twofish, PlaySpan, Jambool and others.
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About the Author, Dean Takahashi
Dean is lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He covers video games, security, chips and a variety of other subjects. Dean previously worked at the San Jose Mercury News, the Wall Street Journal, the Red Herring, the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register and the Dallas Times Herald. He is the author of two books, Opening the Xbox and the Xbox 360 Uncloaked. Follow him on Twitter at @deantak, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.