 |
 | |
| Company type | private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Social network |
| Founded | 2004 |
| Founder | Will Harvey, Eric Ries, Marcus Gosling, Matt Danzig |
| Headquarters | , U.S. |
Key people | Daren Tsui (CEO)[1] |
Number of employees | 200 |
| Website | www |
IMVU (/ˈɪmvjuː/, stylized as imvu)[2] is an online virtual world and social networking site. IMVU was founded in 2004 and was originally backed by venture investors Menlo Ventures, AllegisCyber Capital, Justin Greene, Bridgescale Partners, and Best Buy Capital.[3][4] IMVU members use 3D avatars to meet new people, chat, create, and play games.[5] In 2014, IMVU had approximately six million active players,[4] and had the largest virtual goods catalog[6] of more than 6 million items as of 2011.[4] The business was previously located in Mountain View, California.[7] It was known as one of the leading practitioners of the lean startup approach.[8]
The company name was neither an acronym nor an initialism. IMVU co-founder Eric Ries[9] described the accidental process by which the company acquired its meaningless name, and stated "It's not an acronym; it doesn't stand for anything", though he did note the name was originally used because the IM aspect invoked instant messaging, something the company wanted to be associated with.[10]
- ^ "The future world of "Ready Player One" has already begun - SFChronicle.com". www.sfchronicle.com. 30 March 2018.
- ^ IMVU Community (2012-09-21). "Inside IMVU". youtube.com. Time 0:39: YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved 2014-09-19.
I think the thing I love the most about IMVU is…
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: location (link) - ^ "About: IMVU" Archived 2018-05-03 at the Wayback Machine, IMVU website
- ^ a b c "IMVU Information". Imvu.com. Archived from the original on 2014-10-23. Retrieved 2014-06-25.
- ^ "IMVU Games Taking Advantage of Strong Growth". Insidesocialgames.com. 2011-03-11. Retrieved 2011-11-13.
- ^ "IMVU Announces Growth, Promotion". Engage Digital. 2011-01-31. Archived from the original on 2011-04-08. Retrieved 2011-11-13.
- ^ "IMVU Inc - Company Profile and News". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2023-05-01.
- ^ "Built for Speed: Turn Your Startup Into a Lean, Mean Iterating Machine". Read Write Web. Archived from the original on 2012-09-25. Retrieved 2015-04-10.
- ^ "Board of Directors - IMVU Information". Archived from the original on May 2, 2018.
- ^ "Inspiring women in Technology: Audrea Mills (Author of The Lean Startup)". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved 2014-06-25.