Stardoll, a social site that helps young girls create paper dolls of celebrities, has landed a $6 million investment from Sequoia. Unlike most Silicon Valley investments, Stardoll (formerly Paperdoll Heaven) isn't a cutting-edge Web 2.0 startup - it's a simple social network that enables 7 to 17 year old girls to create, share and discuss paper dolls. Surprisingly, the site has been a big hit - it attracts 1.2 million unique visitors a week from over 200 countries. Stardoll makes money by charging for "Superstar" membership - this costs $2.85 per month and gives users access to exclusive dolls.
Digging deeper, the investment seems less surprising. Although ostensibly based around paper dolls, Stardoll is very much a MySpace-style network based on some common interests: celebrities and dressing up. Users can add friends, leave comments on other profiles, write diary entries, create lists of their favorite things and show off their customized paper dolls. However, the dolls in question are actually celebrity avatars which can be customized using a Flash application - I doubt many of them are printed out at home. So despite appearances, Stardoll is really a rival to WeeWorld, Cyworld, Habbo Hotel, Gaia Online and other avatar-based communities. It's a great play that targets a key demographic - I can see why Sequoia would be interested.
