Blog and media search company Wikio has closed a first round of funding of $5.3 million. The financing was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners along with Gemini Israel Funds.
Luxembourg-based Wikio plans to use the funding to finance further research as well as plans for greater international expansion. The company launched in France last June and currently operates sites in the U.S., Germany, Italy and Spain. It uses an Ajax-based newsreader/personalized homepage that resembles Digg or Slashdot. The site, which claims 1 million users per month, automatically indexes thousands of blogs and media sites and allows users to vote on how stories are ranked.  Wikio previously raised about $2.2 million in a round of angel financing. Release