June 9, 2008
More cash for widgets
Depending on how you look at it, the news that widget-maker RockYou has just raised $35m is either a sign that boundless hope continues to rein supreme in Web 2.0 financing, or that at least some degree of caution is creeping into the sector.
Like Slide, which raised $50m on a $500m valuation at the end of last year, RockYou is only just at the start of trying to work out how (if) it can make money from its little “social” applications, which users can embed into their Facebook page (as we reported before, these widgets don’t make much money yet.) The fact that RockYou has now raised more than $50m in all points to the high level of confidence that where audiences go in social media, advertisers will eventually follow.
A key question remains unanswered, though: what valuation did this latest financing round put on RockYou? There had been talk that the company had put a $400m price tag on itself and was seeking to raise much more, so the size of this round suggests it has had to scale back those expectations quite sharply.
The new wave of Linux mobile devices, from Google ,Clearwire-WiMax ( are they going to let Linux in? ) ,LiMo,etc., are hopefully a new wave of mobile devices,kids need more than to change their own pictures on their sites, we need more, a lot more, for bourocrats ,business people and students, we need a new way of mobile,a new way of work, of interact,of digital talk…we need a digital revolution… i would start with tools for bourocrats and politicians ,from the EU and Brussels to the U.N. and every country on this little planet,their group work tools need a massive overhaul, with instant group chat-video-voice conferences to solve, a real group solution…
Posted by: blogger | June 10th, 2008 at 10:39 pm | Report this commentthese are not businesses, they are products
Posted by: Peter Saler | June 14th, 2008 at 3:45 am | Report this commentThe spread of widgets enables website owners, like myself, to include live content on sites.
The benefit to website owners is that it keeps the user experience fresh and gives visitors another reason to come back to the site. If user start to spend more time on a website then it stands to reason that the site’s value should increase because the ability to further promote the site’s aims increases also
Let’s hope ft.com really gets to grips with this, since it’s one of the best potential sources of finance and business news. This is perfect for my site www.spreadbettingcommunity.com
Posted by: Karl Craig-West | July 17th, 2008 at 10:20 am | Report this comment