Tumblr Lands $85 Million in Funding. Over the past few years, Tumblr, a microblogging service, has steadily built a community of fans and users who like the site’s combination of social networking features and simple blogging tools that lets them quickly post photographs, videos, songs, links and bits of text.
Now, the company has attracted a slew of venture capitalists who are hoping to capitalize on that popularity. On Monday, the company will announce it raised $85 million in fresh financing. The round was led by Greylock Partners and Insight Venture Partners, and the Chernin Group, Richard Branson, Spark Capital, Union Square Ventures and Sequoia Capital also contributed.
To date, the company has raised roughly $40 million in funding. David Karp, who founded the company in 2007, said in a news release that the extra money “allows us to continue to scale our business and give real focus to the further development of Tumblr.” Tumblr Is A Pageview Machine, Now Bigger Than Wikipedia. If you are wondering why Tumblr just raised $85 million, all you have to do is look at its pageviews.
The super-easy blogging platform saw its pageviews jump from about 2 billion a month to 13 billion since the beginning of the year. It recently passed 10 billion posts, and is adding 40 million more every day. According to Quantcast, which directly measures the site, Tumblr attracts 72 million visitors a month, more than half of those from outside the U.S. Tumblr Confirms $30 Million Funding Round. Tumblr to Sponsor 20+ Bloggers at New York Fashion Week. The fashion community has taken root on Tumblr, and Tumblr is determined to help it grow.
The blogging platform recently hired Rich Tong, the founder of social fashion site Weardrobe (acquired by Google in mid-2010), to serve as fashion director. His first big project? Sending more than 20 bloggers to New York Fashion Week next month. Eight bloggers are already stationed in New York; the rest will be flown in for the nine-day series of shows and parties, which run from February 9 to 17. Tumblr is fronting the costs for all participants, including flights, hotel accommodations, transportation, meals, etc., and handling all of the invites to fashion shows.