VCs are showing signs of renewed interest in European Internet startups, with investments announced Monday in Sulake, a Helsinki, Finland-based interactive entertainment company, and CacheLogic, a Cambridge, United Kingdom-based peer-to-peer technology company.

Movida Group—a joint venture between Softbank BB, a broadband subsidiary of the Japanese firm Softbank, and broadband entertainment company Asian Groove—invested €6 million ($7.7 million) in Sulake, which operates an online community known as Habbo Hotel.

Available in 17 countries, Habbo Hotel claims almost 7 million unique visitors each month. Users chat with each other via avatars in a virtual hotel on the site. They can also pay for hotel credits that let them decorate virtual rooms in the hotel.

Sulake’s revenues doubled last year to over $30 million, and the company is currently profitable.

The new strategic investors said they will help to expand Habbo Hotel in Japan, and later, the rest of Asia, as well as assist with the company’s rollout of Habbo Mobile, the same virtual world accessed via mobile phone.

Besides Movida, other investors in Sulake include Taivas Group, 3i Group, Elisa Group, and Benchmark Capital, as well as the company’s founders, Sampo Karjalainen and Aapo Kyrölä.

CacheLogic Stake

In addition, Amadeus Capital Partners led a €20-million ($25.5 million) third round of investment in CacheLogic, joined by an existing investor, 3i, as well as Pentech Ventures and the Cambridge Gateway Fund.

Founded in 2002, CacheLogic makes peer-to-peer software that helps ISPs and telecommunications companies manage their Internet traffic. The company now seeks to expand its customer base to content owners, particularly those that want to offer users video content via the Internet.

'2007 will be the year of the first large-scale consumer launches of video content, currently being trialled by companies including the BBC, Warner Brothers, and NTL,' Simon Cornwell, a partner at Amadeus, said in a statement. 'As more content owners embrace peer-to-peer to deliver content, this market has the potential to grow substantially over the next two years.'

Other recent VC investments in European Internet companies include Last.fm, an online music preference site; Stardoll, a virtual world of paper dolls; WeeWorld, which allows users to make online identities; and Netvibes, a French company whose application enables users to manage their online content and links.