MyMiniLife
MyMiniLife allows individuals to create virtual homes on the web, and lets them import photos of real-life objects into these homes.
| Date | Investors | Amount | Round |
|---|---|---|---|
| investor | €0.0 | round | |
| N/A | €0.0 | round | |
| investor investor | €0.0 | round | |
N/A | Acquisition | ||
| Total Funding | 000k | ||
MyMiniLife, Inc. operated as a social games developer based in Palo Alto, California. Founded in 2006 by Sizhao "Zao" Yang, Joel Poloney, and Luke Rajlich, the company positioned itself in the burgeoning social gaming market. The core offering was a Flash-based virtual world where users could create and customize an avatar and build out a personal virtual space, enabling activities like designing dream homes and businesses.
The company's founding team included Sizhao Yang, who served as CEO, and Amitt Mahajan, who joined as CTO and co-founder. Mahajan was instrumental in architecting and developing the MyMiniLife engine. This team's journey reflects a deep-seated passion for gaming and computer graphics, with Mahajan, for instance, having been involved in modding games like Quake and Doom from a young age before working at Epic Games. Yang later went on to co-found BetterWorks, Inc.
MyMiniLife's business model focused on social interaction and user-generated content, attracting a user base of social gamers and online community enthusiasts. The platform served as a social artistic community, allowing users a high degree of creativity in their virtual environments. The company's trajectory shifted significantly after it began collaborating with Zynga on the popular game FarmVille. This partnership highlighted the power of MyMiniLife's underlying technology. In a strategic move in August 2009, social gaming giant Zynga acquired MyMiniLife for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition was primarily for its technology and skilled staff. Following the acquisition, the MyMiniLife engine became a foundational technology platform at Zynga, powering blockbuster titles such as FarmVille, CityVille, and FrontierVille, which served over 150 million monthly users.
This strategic exit marked the end of MyMiniLife as an independent entity but demonstrated the value of its technology in the rapidly expanding social gaming industry. The team and technology were integrated into Zynga, contributing significantly to the success of what would become some of the most popular games on Facebook. The acquisition occurred as Zynga was experiencing explosive growth, cementing its position as a leader in the social gaming space.