Automattic Cash: $29.5M
January 23, 2008
Matt reports that Automattic has raised $29.5M, and indicates that the money isn’t just for WordPress.
Automattic is now positioned to execute on our vision of a better web not just in blogging, but expanding our investment in anti-spam, identity, wikis, forums, and more — small, open source pieces, loosely joined with the same approach and philosophy that has brought us this far.
News about this funding started to come out a couple of months ago. It’s not clear to me how much of the money will go to the founders.
Other coverage includes:
- The NY Times, which is one of the investors in this new round.
- CEO Toni: “we are also entering a partnership with the Times to expand their existing WordPress blogging infrastructure and to create new ways of connecting WordPress bloggers with the New York Times and its readers.”
- Om Malik, in what I think is his longest post since his recent “little medical episode.”
Acquia: Drupalmattic?
December 20, 2007
Acquia is a startup that will provide complements to Drupal. Drupal, in turn, is a content management platform supporting a variety of web sites from personal blogs on up. Drupal is free/open source software, released under the GPL.
One of the questions in the Acquia FAQ is: “Are there other open source companies that Acquia is modeled after?” Part of the answer provided is that: “Just like Red Hat, Acquia’s business model is based on an existing open source project with a broad base of existing GPL’d open source code.”
Acquia strikes me as rather similar to Automattic. Drupal, like WordPress, is a GPL’d platform on which blogs and other “social web” sites can be built. The lead developer of Drupal, Dries Buytaert, will be the CTO of Acquia; Matt Mullenweg is in effect CTO is Automattic. Each firm has an experienced CEO who sold his previous firm.
Of course, there are also many differences between Acquia and Automattic. Acquia has started with rather more venture capital: $7 million, as opposed to the million or so with which Automattic got under way.
If the name Acquia makes you think of a series of map-in-front fantasy novels (The Annals of Acquia?), then check out Mark Hopkins’ post at Mashable. “Only a few days ago did Dries Buytaert,” he starts, and goes on to remark that Drupal “has grown to no small respectability.”
Web 2.0, Kleiner Perkins, and Wal-Mart
November 15, 2007
One of the web-related stories of the month so far is the apparent loss of interest in Web 2.0 on the part of Kleiner Perkins and other VC firms. Silicon Valley Watcher quotes a KP partner as saying: We have absolutely no interest in funding Web 2.0 companies.
Another story of the month is the success of the Everex Green PC at Wal-Mart (it’s still sold out at walmart.com as I write this). Glyn Moody emphasized two things about the gPC. Each is, not surprisingly, related to the fact that the gOS operating system is Linux-based.
One, of course is the price, which would be impossible with Microsoft Windows. The second is the way the manufacturer is trying to create a machine whose software is based around Web apps. One important aspect of this approach is that it decouples user software from the underlying operating system. So the fact that this machine is running GNU/Linux is almost at the level of what BIOS it uses.
To rephrase the second point: the web as platform is basic to the gPC. It’s also basic to Web 2.0. In fact, it is the first of the principles that Tim O’Reilly used to answer the question: What Is Web 2.0?
So it seems as though KP is leaving Web 2.0 just as Web 2.0 is arriving at Wal-Mart – and leaving just as quickly in the hands of customers. This is where I pull the alternate endings trick. Which of the following punchlines do you prefer?
- KP’s timing is lousy: the market for Web 2.0 applications is getting bigger, thanks to the world’s largest retailer.
- KP’s timing is good: it’s no accident that Silicon Valley is a long way from Bentonville, Arkansas.
- Perhaps KP is just fed up with the term Web 2.0.
- A big lumbering venturesaurus like KP isn’t right for Web 2.0 startups anyway. Such startups are better served by a firm like Y Combinator.
Automattic Cash
November 14, 2007
Michael Arrington has heard that Automattic has been offered a new round of financing. Most of it will go to the founders. Most of how much? Up to $50M. Michael doesn’t identify sources for this story, just as he didn’t for the earlier story that Automattic rejected a $200M buyout.
Actually, I’m less curious about sources than I am about founders. Who are the founders of Automattic? Matt, of course. I was fairly sure that Toni was not a founder, since Automattic already existed when he joined. A look through Toni’s archives shows that I was right, and that Andy, Donncha and Ryan were the other founders.
Meet the new financers, same as the old financers… the (up to) $50M comes from the same people who provided the first round of funding for Automattic. So the lead investor is Polaris, in the person of Mike Hirshland. He blogs as VC Mike at WordPress.com where, in April last year, he explained why Polaris invested in Automattic in the first place.
If the Arringtonian conjecture is correct – and I’d be surprised if it’s completely off the mark – congratulations to all concerned.
