World Golf Tour™, which claims to offer ‘the world’s most photo-realistic online golf experience’ has announced that Panorama Capital, a California-based venture capital firm, as its lead investor in the series B funding round. The new funding also includes participation from current investor Battery Ventures.
Launching in Beta this summer, World Golf Tour (www.worldgolftour.com) will bring the Kiawah Island Golf Resort, located in Charleston, S.C., to the internet for play for the first time. Since the launch of its demo in May 2007, the golf game has attracted more than 500,000 players from over 150 different countries.
“World Golf Tour is leading the creation of compelling new media experiences on the web,” said Michael Jung, principal of Panorama Capital. “The technology behind the product is like nothing else on the market and enables a very compelling proposition.”
As part of the financing Michael Jung has also joined the board of directors.
“We are thrilled to have Panorama’s support and guidance as we move towards our launch,” said World Golf Tour CEO YuChiang Cheng. “We had many firms vying for participation in our investment round, but Panorama’s dedication to our vision, deep understanding of online consumer services and valuable media relationships made them the ideal partner.”
World Golf Tour states that the WGT experience will offer numerous monetization and charitable opportunities for partners and sponsors alike. Currently, World Golf Tour is working with some of the top names in golf, such as PGA.com, TaylorMade and adidas Golf to showcase products within the online experience.
In addition to recreating courses for competitive play and sponsored tournaments, World Golf Tour will feature in-depth information about resorts in the game, as well as provide direct links to tee time reservation systems and resort booking sites.
World Golf Tour states that it seeks to democratize the game of golf via the web, ‘making golf accessible and affordable for all, and to build an online community based on its engaging, interactive golf experience’.
World Golf Tour www.worldgolftour.com
Panorama Capital www.panoramacapital.com