Despite raising less than $15 million in its first three funding rounds since
forming three years ago, social media browser developer Flock landed that
amount in a Seris D
round led by late-stage financial investor Fidelity Ventures to build on the startup's
explosive recent growth and R&D.
Previous investors Bessemer Venture Partners, Catamount Ventures and
Shasta Ventures all participated in the round, which comes on the heels
of 250% growth in Flock's user base since January and a 400% increase
in revenues for that period. Flock's product is designed around
open-source Mozilla Firefox browser technology, and is optimized for social
media functions including
information-gathering, sharing, communication, self-expression and
interaction.
"The browser is strategic because it enables nearly everything users do
online," said
Larry Cheng (pictured) partner at Fidelity Ventures, in a statement. "Flock's
social browser is the most compelling innovation in the browser market
in over a decade. The reasons we invested are simple: great product,
fantastic user adoption, and excellent revenue growth."
Flock and other specialized browser developers including Maxthon Inc.
of China and Norway's Opera ASA generate per-click revenues from
results directed to commercial sites and are exporing other revenue
models as new features and services emerge.
-- Clifford Carlsen
See May 22 press release from Flock
See May 21 post from TechCrunch
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