Aurion
10.07.08, 07:49
When Roelof Botha struggled to buy a $10 pack of virtual armor and weaponry from the casual game site Duels earlier this year, it turned out to be good fortune for the site's creator, Challenge Games.
Botha, a venture capitalist with Sequoia Capital and former CFO of PayPal, emailed customer support at the time to get help with his transaction, but then struck up a conversation with the site's founder, Andrew Busey, who recalled the meeting in an interview. Busey told Botha his plan to create a new class of games--free, short-form browser-based games--and Botha liked the idea.
"How often do you get VCs buying stuff on your site, before you even start talking to them," said Busey, the creator of instant messaging application iChat (now used by Apple).
On Thursday, Challenge Games will announce that Sequoia Capital has invested $4.5 million in the company, along with angel investors such as Ron Conway. Challenge Games has also launched its second game in less than a year, Baseball Boss. The new game--a cross between baseball card collecting and fantasy sports--was made possible through a multiyear licensing deal with Major League Baseball Advanced Media.
Source :
Sequoia's $4.5 million bet on casual game site | News - Digital Media - CNET News.com (http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-9987053-93.html?hhTest=1&tag=nefd.top)
Botha, a venture capitalist with Sequoia Capital and former CFO of PayPal, emailed customer support at the time to get help with his transaction, but then struck up a conversation with the site's founder, Andrew Busey, who recalled the meeting in an interview. Busey told Botha his plan to create a new class of games--free, short-form browser-based games--and Botha liked the idea.
"How often do you get VCs buying stuff on your site, before you even start talking to them," said Busey, the creator of instant messaging application iChat (now used by Apple).
On Thursday, Challenge Games will announce that Sequoia Capital has invested $4.5 million in the company, along with angel investors such as Ron Conway. Challenge Games has also launched its second game in less than a year, Baseball Boss. The new game--a cross between baseball card collecting and fantasy sports--was made possible through a multiyear licensing deal with Major League Baseball Advanced Media.
Source :
Sequoia's $4.5 million bet on casual game site | News - Digital Media - CNET News.com (http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-9987053-93.html?hhTest=1&tag=nefd.top)