LinkedIn pulls in millions more in funding

AS PEOPLE START to lose their jobs left right and centre, professional social not-working site LinkedIn has announced that it's raised $22.7 million in additional funding to warm it through the icy financial winter.

Previous investor Bessemer Venture Partners, and new investors SAP, Goldman Sachs and McGraw-Hill have all put some loose change in the kitty, which goes some way towards extending a previous round of $53 million in funding completed in June.

The social not-working-but-poncing-around-appearing-to-be-professional site smugly pointed out that the valuation of this new cash influx is slightly over $1 billion, the same as the first round. It also brings the total amount of cash LinkedIn has shoved under the mattress to over $100 million.

The money should help LinkedIn ride out the economic storm and even scavenge for cheap strategic assets along the way.

But despite the good news, LinkedIn probably knows it’s in for a tough time in the next year or so. Its biggest chunk of revenue – a cool $100 million this year – comes from premium jobs listings and services to companies which are hiring. With more firing than hiring going on nowadays, those revenues are sure to take a bit of a pounding.

Also, the firm had announced it was preparing to launch its own ad network, but with the state of online ads at the moment, and their prospects for the coming year, LinkedIn may well find that idea is not-working.

Just goes to show, when it comes to job security and funding, it all comes down to who you know and who your friends are. µ

L'Inq
Barron’s Tech Trader