Areae, developer of the virtual world open platform Metaplace has announced that it has officially changed its name to the same as its platform – and that the newly-named Metaplace has raised $6.7 million in financing from existing investors Charles River Ventures and Crescendo Ventures and new investors, Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz.

This round brings the company's total financing to $9.4 million, something which the company states positions it "for strong growth as it builds out the world's first open platform that allows anyone to create virtual worlds on the Web."

The company also unveiled an invitation-only beta program for its site and platform.

"Building virtual worlds has always been the purview of large companies with deep pockets," said Raph Koster, co-founder of Metaplace. "Our vision at Metaplace is to combine the ubiquity and ease of the Web with the immersive and addictive nature of video games to give everyday users the power to create a network of worlds based on their interests be it community, games, education or business. "In the coming years, as virtual places become a standard element of the Web, alongside text, audio, images, and video, Metaplace will be the engine that enables the transformation."