Linden Lab operates Second Life, a user-created virtual world launched in 2003. Second Life has about a million monthly users and an active community. User-to-user transactions on the platform are expected to top $500 million this year. The company has more than 340 employees. Linden Lab has raised more than $19 million from investors including Benchmark Capital, Catamount Ventures, Globespan Capital Partners and Omidyar Network. There has been secondary interest in the company’s shares, including a recent stake acquired by Saints Capital and a small equity stake purchased by Stratim Capital in 2009. Linden Lab is the San Francisco company behind Second Life, a virtual world where users create, buy, and sell virtual goods and experiences. The company reported about 165,000 residents and roughly 20,000 daily users. Players spend approximately $5 million per month on in-game goods and services, implying an annual virtual economy of about $60 million. Last month roughly 180,000 distinct items were bought or traded on the platform. CEO Philip Rosedale says the company aims to make Second Life more mainstream by enabling more commercial activity and improving features like search to attract users with less free time. The world includes social venues such as night clubs with live music and has even been used by a music label to release a new artist. Linden Lab operates Second Life, an online virtual world in which users create their own characters, homes and social interactions. The platform had attracted about 15,000 paying subscribers. Users pay a $9.95 sign-up fee, and many small landowners pay $10 per month for virtual land; users also buy land at auction, paying an average of $100 per acre. Subscribers can create goods such as cars, clothing and jewelry and sell them through online commerce. Linden reports that users buy and sell over $1 million of virtual goods and services on the platform. The company is based in San Francisco.

Total raised

$11M

Funding rounds

3

Latest round

Equity

Latest activity

Mar 2006