Portfolio News
SuperSecret Funded To Launch Tween Game
VentureWire
Ty McMahan
11 March 2009
As marketers look to catch the attention of the growing tween demographic, investors are turning to start-ups that make the group their focus. SuperSecret Inc. is the latest company to score funding for its tween-focused product.
The company operates SuperSecret.com, an online gaming site for kids that have outgrown popular sites like Club Penguin or Webkinz, but are not yet ready for World of Warcraft or Facebook.
"There's a huge market opportunity here," said Ken Elefant, general partner with SuperSecret investor Opus Capital. "There's a huge void they're going after."
That market opportunity is the reason Opus led a $10 million Series A round for SuperSecret. Elefant has joined the company's board of directors. A valuation was not disclosed.
SuperSecret is set to launch its flagship property, SuperSecret.com, this spring. Co-founder and Chief Executive Ted Barnett said the company has signed deals with three of the largest game portals to distribute the game. The idea is to take the game where kids are already playing online, rather than rely on a standalone site.
SuperSecret is led by Barnett and Tony Espinoza, who previously founded and sold Internet calendaring service When.com to AOL LLC. Barnett has also led projects at AOL, Eastman Kodak Co., Apple Inc. and PF Magic Inc., where he played a role in developing Dogz, the first virtual life PC game. Espinoza has worked at Electronic Arts Inc., Apple Inc., International Business Machines Corp. and Diamond Multimedia Systems Inc.
"This is a great team," Elefant said. "They could have raised money from anyone, and we're fortunate they chose us."
In the SuperSecret game, characters start out at age 10 and earn new privileges as they get older in the game. Kids can play the game for free until their character reaches age 12, and then will need to pay a subscription fee of $4.95 a month or $19.95 for six months.
Barnett said the beta version of the game has acquired 150,000 users since it launched in January, with kids playing for an average of 55 minutes per session. "I'm inspired as a parent because I have tween-age kids who are very excited about this," Barnett said.
Tween-targeted investments have been popular among venture investors. Among the numerous companies of this type receiving funding is Stardoll AB, which operates a virtual world aimed at tween and teenage girls. Stardoll announced earlier this week a merger with Piczo Inc., another venture-backed online social network focused on similar demographics.
Tween-targeted cellphone company kajeet Inc. has raised nearly $64 million in venture funding from Bessemer Venture Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson Growth Fund, Gabriel Venture Partners and InterWest Partners.
It's targeting kids who have outgrown certain sites but are too young for more-adult ones.
