• GamesBeat, Tuesday, July 13, 2010 12:26 PM

It looks like some investors still believe the market is big enough for more than one social network. San Francisco-based Hi5 said Tuesday that it raised $14 million in a second round of funding. Last fall, Hi5 hired gaming pioneer Alex St. John as its president, and continues to focus more on social games and virtual goods. The company is now making games that users can play for free, but then pay real money for virtual goods such as decorations.

"Hi5 doesn't have much of a chance of unseating Facebook in social games, but it might have a good chance to set itself up as a diversification opportunity for social game companies that don't want to be entirely dependent on Facebook," writes GamesBeat. The round was led by Crosslink Capital, along with Mohr Davidow Ventures. To date, Hi5 has raised $34 million. "That's no small chunk of change, but it's a pittance compared to what Facebook has raised," Gamesbeat notes. Still, Hi5 has tens of millions of users, many of whom are located outside the United States.

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