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Dating Software
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| Joined: 30 Jul 2006 |
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It’s tough times these days for most technology startups looking for funding. Not for LinkedIn, the business-networking Web site.
The Mountain View, Calif., startup is announcing Thursday that it has received $22.7 million in new funding from investors such as SAP Ventures, Goldman Sachs and McGraw-Hill. The funding–the first time that LinkedIn has taken money from strategic partners rather than venture capitalists–is part of a financing round that was first announced in June. At the time, LinkedIn said it had received $53 million from blue-chip venture capitalists such as Sequoia Capital and Bain Capital Ventures, valuing the company at $1 billion.
In an interview, Dan Nye, LinkedIn’s chief executive, says the company wants to “have the strongest balance sheet possible” to make acquisitions, among other moves. He acknowledged that the timing of the fundraising was fortuitous, since LinkedIn closed the funding before the worst of the market gyrations hit this month.
But the company hasn’t completely ignored the economic tumult. LinkedIn, which grew from 60 employees to 370 employees in the past 18 months, has now slowed down its hiring and reallocated some of its staffers so that they’re working on the most important projects, Nye says. The company is also benefiting from the downturn because more job seekers and recruiters are turning to the Web site, he adds.
-Pui-Wing Tam
Source:
blogs.wsj.com/biztech/2008/10/23/linkedin-gets-even-more-funding
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