Netvibes secures a $15 million investment
NetVibes, a Paris/London based company, will announce a $15 million round of financing on Monday. Index Venture (which is a prior investor) and Accel ventures lead the investment operation which certainly is one of the largest in European internet this year …
Context & Ripple Effects
Netvibes had moved from seed backing from Index Ventures and other internet investors to $1 million in angel funding by March 2006. Its July addition of Meebo and Alexa modules showed the product was still broadening before the larger round.
The financing puts a prior backer, Index Ventures, alongside Accel in a round described as among Europe’s larger internet investments of 2006. It marks a sharp escalation in the capital available to Netvibes rather than a first institutional wager.
First-order effects
- Netvibes gains $15 million to fund its expansion, with Index Ventures continuing its support and Accel joining as a lead investor.
- Netvibes’ earlier angel and seed backers see the company graduate to a substantially larger venture round.
Second-order effects
- Index Ventures and Accel become the principal institutional financiers behind Netvibes, giving the company a stronger investor base as it builds on additions such as its Meebo and Alexa modules.
- The size of the round raises the funding benchmark for European internet companies approaching institutional investors, particularly compared with earlier seed-stage financing.
Third-order effects
- If follow-on rounds of this scale become repeatable, European internet startups will be more able to finance product expansion with local and cross-border venture capital rather than remain dependent on small seed syndicates.
The trend: European internet startups are beginning to convert early angel validation into larger institutional rounds led by established venture firms.