Investor virtually sneaks into Second Life’s equity pool

Second Life, the sometimes-mocked yet formative and still-popular virtual world, has a new investor: Private equity firm Stratim Capital, according to peHUB. The firm wanted in because the company is, it seems, making good money from its mix of virtual currency and virtual goods.

In the first quarter of this year, Second Life users engaged in transactions that added up to $120 million, an increase of 65 percent from a year ago. Meanwhile, peak concurrent users hit 88,000.

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Whatever peHUB editor Dan Primack’s original source was, here’s what he heard from the firm.

“It is true,” said Stratim managing partner Zach Abrams, when I called him for confirmation. “We bought almost the entire position of an existing shareholder… I don’t think this is a company that anyone will be able to put new money into, because it doesn’t look like it will need to raise another VC round.”

[Photo via isfullofcrap.]