San Francisco - Rocketon, the developer of a "parallel virtual world that spans the Web," announced on Tuesday that it has raised a $5 million second round of financing from the D.E. Shaw Group's venture capital unit.

Founded in May 2007, San Francisco-based Rocketon is run by a management team that has worked at game publishers including Sega, Sony, Atari and Electronic Arts.

"What would it be like if people could take a virtual world with them wherever they go on the Internet?" said Rocketon CEO Steven Hoffman.

"The answer we came up with is a parallel experience, where players rocket through cyberspace with their avatar and interact with virtual environments on almost every website they visit."

Rocketon, which has now raised a total of $5.8 million to date, said its product is currently in closed alpha.

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