6waves, Asia’s largest social game provider, today announced that Insight Venture Partners, a leading global technology and internet investment firm, invested $17.5 million in the company. The investment will be used to build infrastructure and a distribution pipeline to consolidate 6waves’ strong market share in Asia and support the Company’s international expansion in Europe and Latin America

Hong Kong-based 6 waves has been quietly building an empire of Facebook applications and games, and now it has just raised a $17.5 million round of funding from Insight Venture Partners, marking the latest in a growing string of large investments in social gaming on the Facebook Platform.

Rex Ng, CEO and chairman of leading Facebook publisher 6waves is set to speak in a session titled 'How to monetise social games globally', where he will offer rare insights into his company, and give advise on how to successfully harness the potential money making power of the world's leading social network.

Chinese-language game makers 6 waves can give themselves a pat on the back after a cool one-two at the top of the current active use growth chart. Ultimate Slot Machines launched on November 21, and thanks to a huge surge in interest over the last 24 hours has now accumulated 192,000 users in just under a week.

In second place — but first on this list — we have Medical Mayhem, made by a little-known developer called Vojo World. Interestingly, the game is being cross-promoted by 6 Waves within the toolbar it runs on various apps. And, similar to Ultimate Slot Machines, this app has grown nearly all of it 444,000 monthly active users within the past week.

Ex-Yahoo (YHOO) workers Ng, Cheng, and Lee reconnected on Facebook and created 6waves, a startup that since its early 2008 inception has developed social applications and casual games on the Facebook platform. During the last year, 6waves has grown quickly and has already acquired more than 32 million monthly users.

Inside Facebook has the story today of Hong Kong-based 6 waves, which started out as a developer of applications for big brands in Hong Kong but has since become a global developer of entertainment applications and social games.

For those that haven’t been reading Inside Facebook in recent months, Facebook is growing by leaps and bounds internationally. And as you may expect, entrepreneurs are taking to the Facebook Platform to reach Facebook’s large and growing audiences in Europe, South America, and Asia.