Bright Things plc Receives $800K Investment in SocialGO from Veddis Ventures; Vikrant Bhargava Joins Board of Directors

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Jan. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Bright Things plc announced today that its flagship venture, SocialGO (www.socialgo.com), has received an $800K investment from Gibraltar-based Veddis Ventures. Vikrant Bhargava of Veddis Ventures has joined the board as a non-executive director. In addition, Bright Things has acquired Get On With It (GOWIT) Ltd., which has been providing development and support services for SocialGO since 2007. GOWIT directors Stephen Hardman and Alex Halliday will also join the board as joint managing directors.

SocialGO is a premium platform for creating social networking sites that enables businesses, organizations and entrepreneurs to harness the power of social media by creating online communities with full content and member control, monetization, and customization features. Recently integrated with Facebook and Twitter, SocialGO provides the functionality, widgets and applications to empower businesses, educational entities, non-profit groups and other organizations to network around shared interests, sell products and services, fundraise and build their brands online.

"SocialGO has proven its subscription-based business model for creating online social networks with solid month-over-month revenue growth," said Vikrant Bhargava. "The company is poised for expansion, and I anticipate 2010 will be a banner year as subscriptions continue to grow."

Bhargava, who brings a wealth of expertise in internet-related industries to SocialGO, co-founded PartyGaming plc and is largely credited with taking that company from start-up in 2001 to nearly $1B in revenue by 2006.

"We are pleased to welcome Vikrant Bhargava as a board member and are looking forward to benefitting from his tremendous expertise in growing online businesses," said Dominic Wheatley, CEO, Bright Things. "SocialGO is experiencing good growth as businesses, non-profits, educational establishments, entrepreneurs and other organizations increasingly recognize the value of its offering of full ownership and control over membership and content. This is a crucial differentiator when creating a social network that supports a business, brand, cause or interest."

A SocialGO network – which can be quickly and easily created without development expertise – may be seamlessly integrated into an existing website or used to establish an online presence. The platform enables the creation of a loyal, expansive customer base by establishing a web-based hub for all things related to the business, organization, community or brand. For those who lack time, SocialGO offers a Concierge service that will create a fully customized, white-labeled social network and provide premium support.

About SocialGO

Founded in 2007, SocialGO provides a complete social networking platform that enables businesses, organizations and entrepreneurs to reap the benefits of social media. SocialGO's founders created an offering specifically tailored to the needs of businesses and organizations for the monetization, ownership, control and customization of content and membership. SocialGO has headquarters in the UK and Silicon Valley to meet the demands of its global customer base. For more information, please visit www.socialgo.com.

About Veddis Ventures

Veddis Ventures (www.veddis.com) is a Gibraltar based independent investment management company. Veddis was founded in 2006 by highly successful internet entrepreneurs and has since invested in a number of early stage companies. Veddis invests in businesses with significant growth potential, run by exceptional entrepreneurs with a particular focus on the Telecom, Internet, Media and Entertainment industries mainly in Europe and India. Veddis provides entrepreneurs with growth capital as well as management expertise to assist small / mid-size businesses in achieving their goals. Run by people with extensive operational backgrounds, Veddis understands the challenges faced by early stage, high growth business and provides solutions and strategic advice to meet these challenges. Veddis takes a long term view on its investments and works closely with the founders of the businesses it invests in, to maximize the value for shareholders.

About Bright Things plc

Bright Things plc (www.brightthings.com) is an innovative company created by former senior executives of video game publisher Eidos.

SOURCE SocialGO