Exclusive: Flipboard Confirms $50 Million Funding at $200 Million Valuation - Kara Swisher. Late last month, BoomTown posted about a huge venture funding effort by the high-profile and even more highly designed social media reading app for the Apple iPad, Flipboard.
Today, its co-founder and CEO Mike McCue confirmed the $50 million round at an eye-popping $200 million valuation, in a wide-ranging interview at the start-up’s Palo Alto, Calif., HQ. “We’re obviously thrilled, because we think it confirms our focus that people want a beautifully designed way to interact with content and to share it,” he said. “And there is a lot more to come–on a scale of one to 10, we’re just at a two or three.” The bulk of the new second round of funding–Flipboard had previously raised $10.5 million–came from New York-based Insight Venture Partners. Insight’s Jerry Murdock said in an interview that he was excited about the idea of “social endorsement” that Flipboard was pioneering.
Quora Investor Scoffs At $1 Billion Offer Price. Google Tried To Buy Path For $100+ Million. Path Said No. Yesterday we reported on Path’s new $8.5 million venture round, led by Kleiner Perkins and Index Ventures.
I was curious about the valuation and pulled on a couple of threads. What unraveled was a stunning story about a startup that almost ran out of cash, a rebuffed $100+ million buyout offer from Google, and, finally, a new round of financing. Path is still very small, with just “hundreds of thousands” of users, said the company yesterday. It’s a private mobile network limited to just 50 friends, which makes viral spreading difficult. Google Tried To Buy Color For $200 Million. Color Said No.