BV Capital

Location: Beijing

Company Description: Virtual Worlds are stirring a lot of buzz around Silicon Valley these days. Sites such as Second Life, Gizmos and Habbo have raised nearly $80 million VC dollars since 2004. China, already having proved itself as a strong market for online multi-player gaming and social networking, has followed suit. The most talked about site these days is the Beijing based HiPiHi (Hi-Pee-Hi). Although it assimilates many of the same ideas as Second Life, it would be wrong to characterize HiPiHi as a copycat site. Work began in 2005 and rather than rushing to launch a shoddy project, HiPiHi management has taken time to build a professional and solid site. It is being rolled out in four phases, the first of which started in March of this year and invited 1,000 users into private testing. It is currently in its second phase and, according to the site, has nearly 8,000 users in private testing. A rumor was circulated a few weeks ago that the site had received $7-10 million from 3 VCs, however nothing has been confirmed.

[Disclaimer: I have never participated in a Virtual World, nor do I claim to be knowledgeable about them. I will do my best to explain their basic concepts]

The idea behind HiPiHi, and most virtual worlds, is to create a new world online by having individuals come together, claim their digital land and build virtual homes, businesses and relationships. HiPiHi makes it easy for experienced and inexperienced users alike to create homes and businesses by providing pre-constructed 3D components needed to build structures. More tech savvy users can create their own parts and individualize their structure even more. The only limits are set by imaginations. Once completed users own the rights to their house or business. It remains to be seen if HiPiHi will build out a virtual economy where houses, businesses, goods and services are bought and sold with e-currency, just as Second Life has done. Although in Mandarin, here is a nice visual trailer for HiPiHi.

Korean owned CyWorld launched a portal for virtual life simulation in China some time ago. While it has gained much popularity, it lacks the 3D component of HiPiHi and focuses much on social networking. What makes HiPiHi more of a standout is that it is China’s first fully owned and operated 3D Virtual World site. Expect it to make quite a splash when it launches publicly a little later this year.