Viximo reaches 60M users with virtual goods platform, appoints new CEO

Hoping to be a major player in virtual goods, Viximo Network is announcing today it has appointed game media veteran Dale Strang as its chief executive. The company also says that its virtual goods solutions are now used on web sites with more than 60 million users.

Based in Cambridge, Mass., the company focuses on providing virtual goods created by a pool of thousands of digital artists. Viximo’s partners sell the virtual goods in apps that run on social networks — much like Facebook’s virtual gifts platform.

Among its new partners are BlackPlanet.com, SmartDate.com, and FanIQ.com. Viximo has more than 40 brands and two dozen web publishers using its virtual goods system — including virtual goods, virtual currency, analytics, and a micro-transaction payment system.

The company last raised a round of $5 million in May, 2008, when it appointed its previous acting chief executive, Dayna Grayson, a partner at North Bridge Venture Partners. Grayson replaced the previous CEO, Rob Frasca, who left to pursue other options.

The company competes with rivals such as Live Gamer, PlaySpan, Jambool and others. Strang was publisher of Ziff Davis Media and and general manager of IGN Entertainment. He has more than 20 years of experience in consumer media, games and digital distribution.He was most recently co-founder of an ad network, 5to1.com.

The virtual goods market is expected to grow from $1 billion in 2009 to $1.6 billion in 2010, according to Inside Network.