World Golf Tour Raises $10M Series C Round

Today the online social game World Golf Tour announced that it had raised a $10 million Series C round lead by Japanese firm JAFCO Ventures with participation by existing investors, according to Venture Beat. The company also announced the formation of a long-term partnership with the United States Golf Association, which governs professional golf in the US. 

World Golf Tour serves about $1 million registered users, with 500,000 monthly actives. The site's current userbase is highly international, drawing players from 180 nations. The company plans to use its funding to expand its presence into overseas markets, where it will be easy to leverage the virtual goods aspects of its business model. 

The company is currently testing a simplified Facebook version of its product, but has no plans to become a Facebook-oriented developer. World Golf Tour is instead a social game that runs on its own Web platform, using sophisticated 3D graphics.  The site is a serious competitor for Electronic Arts's similar Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online. 

World Golf Tour also has the distinction of launching first. The company was founded in May 2007 and employs about 36 people. Right now its target demographic in the US is older males, who can be a difficult audience for social games to reach. While this demographic does reliably possess credit cards, its often hesitant to make online purchases with them.  

Revenue in World Golf Tour comes from advertising as well as virtual goods. Players must buy virtual golf balls in order to play. If you lose your ball to a water hazard or other poor shot, you'll have to buy  more, just as in real-world golf. Right now World Golf Tour supports 12 courses, with four to five new courses scheduled to be added to the game this year. 

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