Yes, this round of financing is more massive big. Well, at least for Europe. And while it may be nowhere near Groupon, like, billions of dollars throughout the year, is certainly among the largest deals this side of the Atlantic.
Multiple sources have confirmed that they are currently in discussions with Luxembourg-based Wikio Group, which is in the process of securing a major funding round. While no official information has been released, the number 8 figures could easily reach 9 dollar figures given the current exchange rate. Making it one of the largest rounds of funding to be held in Europe this year.
The company founded by Pierre Chappaz, who also founded Kelkoo price comparison site (which happened to Yahoo in 2004 for € 475 000 000 or $ 670 million), could be on its way to the construction of the Internet to all European giant has been waiting for. The so-called "European equivalent of the demand for media" currently manages six flagship products, such as blogging platform Overblog, News Wikio Wikio experts Wikio Shopping, local search engine Ebuzzing Nomao and recommendation site. According to internal statistics, these 6 units has more than 120 million visits to cash in February alone.
The last half of 2010 was particularly active for Wikio, which not only concentration but also Overblog Nomao. Apparently, the merger with Overblog has proved very successful, in February Overblog reported its highest growth in traffic to date, reaching 98 million visitors that month. Then, in late 2010, the company announced a € 4 million round of funding followed by the launch of Experts Wikio, a "content on demand" publishing platform for independent writers of origin.
The 140-person company seems to be working its way to becoming Europe's leading social Internet. But does it make sense to call a potential champion Euro Wikio Internet? For starters, there are now 11 experienced entrepreneurs in the Wikio management team, including Frédéric Montagnon, Romanette Julien, Quasar Bertrand, Laurent and Yves Binard Languepin (plus Chappaz). These entrepreneurs are not in their initial start-up and have gone through previous acquisitions. In addition, the company is generating cash and is almost profitable, was not trying to raise money after the round that closed in December. And finally, the multiple platforms of this pan-European group are complementary in nature and continue to hire across Europe.
However, while the company's investors include Lightspeed Venture Partners and TF1, Wikio is potentially missing an investor list, which should allow the top. In addition, the company could be criticized for being slow to integrate with social platforms like Facebook and Twitter. It was a bit late to get in tables and mobile platforms.
Naturally, this round of financing will be very significant for the future of the company. We'll see soon if the capital is provided by European investors or U.S. investors are prepared to facilitate the development of transatlantic Wikio.
Were contacted for comment Wikio team. The company's director of marketing, Frédéric Montagnon, rather tried to stay under the radar, but do not hesitate to point out that "if there is a funding round will be a great round to doing things on a larger scale and why not go beyond Europe ... "
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