It's no Facebook, but social site MyYearbook can still play with the popular kids: the site has announced $13 million in Series B venture funding. The round was led by Norwest Venture Partners with existing investors US Venture Partners and First Round Capital chipping in as well. Norwest's Sergio Monsalve has joined the site's board of directors.
Founded in 2005 when co-founder Catherine Cook was a sophomore in high school (the two other co-founders are her older brothers Dave and Geoff, who serves as CEO), MyYearbook focuses on a decidedly younger demographic than Facebook and even News Corp.'s MySpace, which is frequently considered to be a teen hub. The site currently has a major partnership, for example, with the Teen Choice Awards hosted by youth sensation Miley Cyrus. Not exactly a pick for the over-21 crowd.
With the new funding round, MyYearbook has raised $16.8 million total. The purpose for raising so much wasn't directly addressed by the site, with a release ambiguously saying that it will be used to "develop new services for its members and continue to drive revenue." Right now, per Hitwise, the site pulls in about 10 million unique visitors per month, and 2 billion page views. That's still small compared with Facebook and MySpace, but nothing to sneer at either.
Rumors swirled last year that the site was going to be acquired by InterActiveCorp; they weren't true, stemming from a misunderstanding after the site gave a "mock pitch" to IAC czar Barry Diller at a conference.
Several sources close to InterActiveCorp (IAC) have told CNET News.com that, contrary to rumors, the media conglomerate is not purchasing youth-oriented social-networking site MyYearbook. The rumor was originally reported by Valleywag on Wednesday.
The misconception arose, one source said, because MyYearbook was one of multiple start-ups that were invited to do "mock pitches" to IAC chairman and CEO Barry Diller as part of a session at this week's exclusive Quadrangle conference (hosted by the eponymous private equity firm) at the Pierre Hotel in Manhattan. Essentially, it was like moot court for entrepreneurs.
MyYearbook was founded by a pair of teenage siblings from New Jersey while on their spring break in 2005, and has since raised $4.1 million in venture capital from U.S. Venture Partners and First Round Capital. Representatives from the social network did not respond to a request for comment.
An additional source within an IAC-owned brand, when asked about the possible acquisition, was unfamiliar with any such deal. And indeed, the timing would be rather awkward--in an attempt to refocus its sprawling array of media, e-commerce, and retail brands, IAC announced on Monday that it would be splitting into five separate publicly traded companies. The core IAC company will now consist primarily of advertising-supported online media brands.
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