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Curse.com Gets $6 Million For MMO Add-On Manager, Portal
by Eric Caoili [PC, Console/PC]
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December 28, 2009
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San Francisco-based MMORPG community add-on manager and portal Curse.com revealed that it raised $6 million in a second round of funding in early 2009 from new backers Ventech Capital and SoftTech VC. AGF Private Equity, which previously led a Series A round in 2007 that invested $5 million into the company, also participated.
Originally founded in 2005 as a repository for World of Warcraft add-ons, Curse.com has since transformed itself into a network of blogs, databases, forums, wikis, and more for a variety of titles such as Age of Conan, Aion, Final Fantasy XIV, Diablo 3, and several others. The site also offers a PC and Mac Curse client for managing plug-ins for World of Warcraft, Warhammer Online, and Runes of Magic.
The company's focus on catering to devoted MMO fans has paid off, as it counts over 1.6 million active Curse client users, attracts 7.4 million unique visitors monthly, and is profitable after generating more than $3 million in revenue in 2009.
Since the network launched a premium subscription option ($4.95 monthly) eight months ago, over 34,000 users have signed up to receive extras like an ad-free Curse Client, faster add-on downloads, access to premium beta key giveaways, additional community features, and more.
CEO and founder Hubert Thieblot said Curse.com plans to expand internationally in the near future, according to a report from technology news site TechCrunch. The company also hopes to continue growing by predicting what titles will be hits and setting up hubs for their communities. Thieblot added that he anticipates MMOs picking up popularity on consoles soon.
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