How do you feel about big corporate events? You know, the kind that requires the short-term lease of a hotel or warehouse-sized complex. The kind exemplified by CES (Consumer Electronics Show) and Macworld, to name a couple of recent gatherings. Bullish? Bearish? Don’t-much-care-ish?
Well, whatever your impressions of get-togethers orchestrated by/for one or more companies, here’s something that might strike you as interesting. Or not. Whichever.
Unisfair, a business whose model is all about hosting “the world’s virtual events,” recently whet the palates of investors at both Norwest and Sequoia to the tune of a collective $10 million.
That’s not a massive investment by today’s standards, of course. When the world of venture capital is routinely tossing quotes in the ranges of nine, ten, and eleven figures, $10m is a relatively small sum.
But the key point here is what Unisfair is essentially built upon. It’s about virtual events. Yes, like Second Life. Albeit not as interesting. (Not that SL is seen to be a hotbed of online activity anymore.)
So why the financial attention for Unisfair? Is it because people associated with big companies thoroughly enjoy sitting before their LCD screens, browsing digital warehouses emblazoned with their employers’ logos, listening to executives boringly drone on in avatar form about projected growth statistics and the much-too-oft-repeated mantra of continued innovation? Can Unisfair possibly show so much future promise as to wean a multi-million-dollar investment at present?
I dare say not.
Now, to be reasonable here, this shared $10m investment is hardly a drop in the bucket for either financier, Norwest or Sequoia. The latter of the two is a massive money house for whom an eight-figure number needs to be closely considers. (Whether that’s a good or bad thing for the current state of VC is a topic for another day.) Both Norwest and Sequoia will not be standing on any less solid ground if Unisfair happens to buckle under diminishing interest in 2008-9.