Last month, we reported on a new start-up called gWallet, which raised $12.5 million in its first institutional funding round. Following the controversy late last year surrounding ads in social games, gWallet said it was starting an "ethical" offer-based monetization system. Today, gWallet announced the next step to "accelerate innovation within the growing social gaming ecosystem."
Through a fund called gWallet Ventures, gWallet will actually invest in social gaming companies to bring more quality games to the space. The company said it's begun searching for investment opportunities and is "in active diligence with major developers on Facebook and MySpace, as well as smaller, innovative social gaming companies that are looking to bring their games to the masses." gWallet will look to place minority investments ranging from $100,000 to $1 million per company.
Although Facebook has probably done more to spur the growth of social gaming in the last 12 months, gWallet also said it is working with MySpace "to help the funded companies developing on the MySpace platform gain distribution within MySpace's extensive network." At the same time, MySpace is providing promotional opportunities for gWallet Ventures portfolio companies.
"There are a lot of social gaming companies out there that have not received the attention they deserve," said Gurbaksh Chahal, CEO and founder of gWallet. "gWallet Ventures is an opportunity for some of these companies to receive the funding they need in order to be successful, and in the end, we think that these funding deals will instill a virtuous cycle of growth among publishers, brands, and consumers alike."
For more on the new gWallet Ventures fund, visit the official site.
