Flock draws $15 million for social browsing

Flock, a Firefox-based Web browser that plays up social networking online, has raised $15 million in a fourth round of funding led by Fidelity Ventures. The company's previous investors, Bessemer Venture Partners, Catamount Ventures, and Shasta Ventures, also participated in the round.

The deal shows continued faith in the alternative market for Web browsers, beyond the dominant Internet Explorer. Alternative-browser rival Maxthon, for example, has been downloaded more than 140 million times; and it's one of the most popular browsers in China. The Beijing-based company has pulled in investments from Charles River Ventures and Google.

Flock, which was built on Firefox code, caters to people who want to stay on top of services like Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, and Flickr with features that make it easier to broadcast messages to your network. The Redwood City, Calif.-based Flock did not say how many downloads it has to date, but the company said its user base has risen more than 250 percent since January.

The company plans to use the funds to expand its research and development, marketing, and global expansion efforts. To date, the company has raised an estimated $30 million.

[gsmiller88]

What I couldn't do with 15 mil.

[NoDomainsForSale-com]

Flock is a great for both ecommerce and the proofing of pages and sites outside of Firefox. It has the same insides as Firefox and same access to skins and extensions.

I use both, side by side, with Flock set up to allow cookie acceptance and end-of-session cookie dumps, while keeping Firefox locked down.

[w2wScribe]

The social phenomenon which is Flock continues to grow and mature. Its "baked-in" features make social connections a breeze and its community support structure is a two-way street. Easily just as secure as Firefox but, more sociable. FF3 has been released and is being incorporated into Flock 2 as I write. It is purported to be faster and even more sociable than before. The Flock team deserves the influx of cash and can be assured of continued support from the community. Flock has become my primary browser for nearly everything I do on the web. The next release might well free up desktop real estate as the other browsers in my "purpose defined" collection of icons are relegated to the start menu.

[benjaminstraight]

This is going to be big.