Conduit Labs secures $5.5 million funding

Start-up company Conduit Labs announced that it has secured USD 5.5 million in Series A funding.

The round was co-led by Charles River Ventures and Prism VentureWorks. CRV's Susan Wu and Prism's Will Kohler have joined the company's board of directors.

âWhen we look at the rise of social networks and virtual worlds, we see a huge gap in the current experience and believe gaming points a way forward,â said Nabeel Hyatt, Conduit's founder and CEO. âWe're bringing together a rock star group from both the web and massive multiplayer online gaming to build that new kind of online experience."

Conduit's other founding team members, Dan Ogles, Michael Sheidow, and Daniel O'Brien, served leading roles in building revolutionary entertainment products including Guitar Hero, Rock Band, Asheronâs Call and the Lord of the Rings Online.

âThe Conduit Labs team is skilled in identifying the next seismic shift in social entertainment and has the entrepreneurial drive, technological savvy and past success behind them to prove it,â said Prism's Will Kohler.

Conduit Labs will be focusing on the intersection of browser-based gaming and social-networking technologies.

Hyatt was nominated in 2004 as one of the "Top 100 Innovators Under 30" by MIT Technology Review.