Venture capitalists embrace humor, technology and social media

Venture capitalists embrace humor, technology and social media

Funny cats and social publishing catch the attention -- and funding -- of VCs.

by Jenn Webb | @JennWebb | +Jenn Webb | Comment | 19 January 2011

Startups dreams can come true. Ben Huh and his team at Cheezburger Network have raised $30 million in venture capital. The money reportedly will be used to hire people — perhaps including a sales person, as they (impressively) don't have one.

And no, a business doesn't have to involve cats to secure venture capital. Sonian, a company that archives cloud-based data, secured an additional $9 million when corporate giant Amazon jumped onboard, bringing their venture capital total to about $15 million. Social publishing site Scribd and Perfect Market, a company that helps Web publishers monetize content, also have landed solid capital investments of $13 million and $9 million, respectively.

Huh will talk more about his company's success — and its venture into book publishing — in a keynote address at TOC. As a teaser, Huh discusses the limitations of blog-to-book publishing in the following short interview:

TOC: 2011, being held Feb. 14-16, 2011 in New York City, will explore "publishing without boundaries" through a variety of workshops, keynotes and panel sessions.

Save 15% off registration with the code TOC11RAD

Venture capitalists embrace humor, technology and social media

Funny cats and social publishing catch the attention -- and funding -- of VCs.

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