Second Life creator secures $11m funding, plans German, Japanese versions

US massively multiplayer "virtual world" firm Linden Labs has announced that it has closed a new round of funding, led by Globespan Capital Partners, which has secured an additional $11 million for the company.

Linden Labs is best known as the creator of Second Life, a virtual world MMO title which is focused on allowing players to create their own items in the game universe, and makes its money by selling in-game plots of land and services to users.

The new funding will be used for an "aggressive international expansion" strategy, according to the firm, with German and Japanese language versions of Second Life on the horizon, while Linden Labs also plans to expand its staff from 70 at present to around 100.

The company, whose previous rounds of funding netted cash from technology industry luminaries including Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos and Lotus founder Mitch Kapor, has around 165,000 players in Second Life - but despite the comparatively small number of players in the game, it has attracted lots of attention from the mainstream press due to the high value of some of the property transactions taking place in the virtual realm.