Empire Avenue Secures Seed Investment

Empire Avenue Secures Seed Investment
Group headed by Boris Wertz of W Media Ventures provides seed funding to the world’s first influence stock market.

A private group of prominent angel investors headed by Boris Wertz of W Media Ventures has provided seed funding to Empire Avenue (www.empireavenue.com), the world’s first influence stock market. The investment monies will be used to help accelerate development initiatives for the site, including the impending launch of its Avenue Rewards program and advertising platform, as well as fund marketing initiatives to increase user base and awareness.

In beta Empire Avenue has attracted over 15,000 registered users and local, national and international businesses from more than 95 countries worldwide who want to tap into the power and value of online influence. The site, its game-changing advertising platform and Avenue Rewards program connect consumers, influencers and brands in close-knit, value-based relationships to the benefit of everyone involved. Over 750,000 virtual share trades have occurred on the site in the past three months with a total value of over half a billion Eaves, Empire Avenue’s virtual currency.

“We are incredibly excited to be working with Boris and his group, who bring valuable industry knowledge with their backgrounds and investments in social media and games,” said Duleepa Wijayawardhana, CEO of Empire Avenue. “With this investment, we will be able to continue bringing our vision to life and Empire Avenue to the world.”

“We were really impressed with what the team around Duleepa had achieved with limited resources in a few months. The initial traction clearly shows how extremely engaging the product already is,” said Boris Wertz of W Media Ventures, who will serve on the Empire Avenue board.

About Empire Avenue
Empire Avenue (www.empireavenue.com) is an influence stock exchange created by former BioWare, Electronic Arts and MySQL/Sun Microsystems employees. Empire Avenue makes social media fun – and measurable – by tying users’ virtual share price on the site to activity, reach and engagement on external social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and blogs. The more active and influential a user is on the site and around the web, the higher their virtual share price.

About W Media Ventures
W Media Ventures is an angel fund focusing on early-stage Consumer Internet opportunities in the Pacific Northwest and Western Canada. Founded by Internet entrepreneur and investor Boris Wertz in 2007, W Media Ventures is based in Vancouver, BC. Current investments includes Tynt, Techvibes, Suite101, Indochino, Yapta and BootUp Labs. For more information visit http://www.wmediaventures.com.