Vostu secures $30M Series C for social gaming

Brazilian social gaming company picks up third round from Tiger Global Management and Accel Partners

Vostu, one of the leading social gaming companies in Brazil, has raised a $30 million Series C round of funding from Tiger Global Management and Accel Partners, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Accel partner Jim Breyer will join the Vostu board, adding the seat to his others at private-held companies Booyah, Etsy and, of course, Facebook.

Vostu has raised $46 million to date.

Just like Zynga here in the U.S., Vostu’s most popular release (of six total) is a farming game, called Mini Fazenda, where users watch over their virtual farms, tend virtual crops and spend real money on virtual goods. Users purchase virtual currency either through pre-paid cards at convenience stores or via their cell phone, charging directly to the phone bill. The sale of virtual goods, as unbelievable as it might still sound to some, is already a multi-billion dollar industry. And it’s still growing.

Vostu, which already boasts profitability (what social gaming company doesn’t?), sees 20 million monthly active players, ten times more than a year ago.

What’s most interesting about Vostu is its alignment with the most popular social network in Brazil, Orkut, perfectly matching the partnership between social gaming behemoth Zynga and Facebook in the U.S. and most other places in the world. Facebook has been trying to edge out its competitors in the last countries where it hasn’t made a large impact, like Brazil and India, but it always proves difficult to oust a standing social network. Even Zynga’s starting to try to go international with the launch of its newest game, CityVille.

Luckily for Vostu, Google won’t give up its hold on social in Brazil without a fight.

Also interesting about this deal is the fact that Accel, one of the participants in today’s funding, owns an estimated eight percent stake in Facebook (though it used to own 25 percent). Conflict of interest, anyone? While we’re on the topic, Tiger Global, the other investor involved, contributed a year ago to the massive DST-led $180 million round in Zynga.

Vostu was not immediately available for comment.