Wikio raises 4 million euros + important precisions
Wikio (a company i was already private investor in) just announced a 4 million euros A round with LightSpeed Venture Partners (it is joined by Gemini Israel Funds as well). Full PR is here and more on Forbes
An important precision first: as i am involved in LightSpeed Gemini internet Lab, i want to precise this is not lab investment: we only invest in young israeli internet companies (up to 1 million dollars). This is a classic A round, managed by the funds mentionned above. I was asked though to join the board of Directors, which i have gladly accepted.
I am very happy of this announcement and Wikio has been doing not too bad since it has launched. The way is still long but they are cool things coming up.
Wikio is best defined as a personnalized news search engine managed by users (Think Digg+Technorati+Google News). Several local versions (German, Spanish, Italian and English) were recently aunched in Europe which will be primary focus of Wikio where there is no real alternative (well a little). It will reach soon 1 million active users, which is not bad since this was done with no marketing budget.
You will say i am biaised, but i can say i use Wikio everyday, mainly for intelligence reasons and for information/buzz monitoring on blogs and media sites. I can tell you that there are great things coming up and the business model will soon become much clearer.
Wikio is headed by Pierre Chappaz that was founder of Kelkoo and ex president of Yahoo Europe
More on Wikio here (btw they are hiring tech/dev profiles, so if you want to join you can write here rh@wikio.com (you don’t have to be French or even live in France)
for "information/buzz monitoring on blogs and media sites", Google News + Google Blogsearch seems to be more efficient (personal opinion)
Posted by: Tvnomics | 23 January 2007 at 07:08 PM
they are not bad either. i agree. Although sometimes i get lost in the flow. Wikio will evolve soon, then we ll talk again
Posted by: ouriel | 23 January 2007 at 07:13 PM
Congratulations! Really happy for you! Topix.net and Google Blogsearch is by far best based on campaigns I have been tracking. But then again, I have tried out Wikio yet ;)
Posted by: Net | 23 January 2007 at 07:22 PM
Topix is great but will not help if you only speak spanish or french or german...
Posted by: ouriel | 23 January 2007 at 07:26 PM
Hello, my name is Lydia Sizer and I am working on a thesis through Brown University in the United States looking at blogs. I am looking at how blogs affect mutual understanding among people of different ethnic backgrounds and I was wondering if you would be willing to take a survey I have prepared for my research. This research would give you a voice in determining whether blogs would be useful in aiding global security and counteracting racism. If you are interested, don't hesitate to email me at Lydia_Sizer@brown.edu. Thank you so much for your time. For convenience, please enter "thesis survey" as the subject of your email as I will not know who is writing to me. Thanks again! In addition, you will receive an email later from lscello@aol.com. This is because my school email is routed through my home email. Thanks!
--Lydia Sizer
Posted by: Lydia Sizer | 24 January 2007 at 12:08 AM