AJAX-based IM company meebo has raised $9 million in a second round led by Draper Fisher Jurvetson; incumbent investor Sequoia Capital also took part. As part of the funding, DFJ founder and managing partner Tim Draper is joining the Mountain View-based start-up’s board; Sequoia’s Roelef Botha is already a board member. The company’s first round from Sequoia in late 2005 was about $3.5 million based on a $9 million pre-money valuation.
Along with the funding announcement, meebo says it has doubled registered users for its interoperable IM service to 1 million in the past three months and that 4.5 million unique screen names are used monthly. That and some other stats—1.2-plus million daily log-ins, 75 million messages exchanged a day, average sessions of 75 minutes, a 10-12 percent monthly growth rate—have encouraged meebo co-founder and CEO Seth Sternberg to fold advertising into the company’s business model. The company also continues to work with various web platforms and social networks.
Meebo will use the funds to expand from its 10-person staff and is already hiring. Next month, plans call for an API that will support partners who want to push meebo to users.
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—Interoperable IM Company Meebo Gets Funding