IMVU
IMVU (/ˈɪmvjuː/, stylized as imvu) 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, Bridgescale Partners, and Best Buy Capital. IMVU members use 3D avatars to meet new people, chat, create, and play games. In 2014, IMVU had approximately six million active players, and had the largest virtual goods catalog of more than 6 million items as of 2011. The business was previously located in Mountain View, California. It was known as one of the leading practitioners of the lean startup approach.
| 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) |
Number of employees | 200 |
| Website | secure |
The company name was neither an acronym nor an initialism. IMVU co-founder Eric Ries 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.