PALO ALTO, CA--(Marketwire - January 20, 2011) - Qwiki, a startup pioneering the "information experience" via on-the-fly transformation of data into rich media narratives, announced today that it closed $8 million in Series A funding. To date, the company has raised a total of $9.5 million including its angel round.
The round was led by several high-profile individual investors, including primary investor Eduardo Saverin (co-founder, Facebook), Jawed Karim (co-founder, YouTube) and Pradeep Sindhu (co-founder, Juniper Networks). Institutional investors included Lerer Media Ventures, Tugboat Ventures and Contour Venture Partners. Saverin and Pejman Nozad will be joining Qwiki's Board of Directors as observers. The individual investor syndicate was arranged by New York City-based Felix Investments.
"The public's enthusiasm for Qwiki after our debut at TechCrunch Disrupt demonstrates the incredible opportunity ahead of us," says CEO Doug Imbruce. "Our new financial partners will help provide the resources, independence and strategic know-how to grow Qwiki to the next level and forever improve the way the world consumes information."
Eduardo Saverin says, "Qwiki is a revolutionary new platform that will define the future of information consumption globally. I'm particularly excited to support the Qwiki team as their initial product gains momentum. It is always thrilling to be involved in the early stages of disruptive technology."
"Qwiki is a game changer," says Jawed Karim. "The team has succeeded in creating an entirely new media format that will drastically improve the web experience."
The funding follows the release of Qwiki's invite-only private Alpha of its reference product, for which the company received hundreds of thousands of user signups. Qwiki will use the $8 million to fund technology development and launch publicly on multiple platforms.
About Qwiki, Inc.
Qwiki was co-founded by entrepreneur Doug Imbruce and Internet industry pioneer Dr. Louis Monier (founder of AltaVista). The company's technology transforms data into rich-media narratives, delivering an "information experience." Qwiki debuted in September 2010 at the TechCrunch Disrupt Conference, where it won the TechCrunch Disrupt Cup. The Company has released its private alpha and plans to launch publicly on multiple platforms soon. To learn more, please visit www.qwiki.com.
Contact Information:
Press Contact
Jacqueline Wood or CeCe Cheng
Press@Qwiki.com
(650) 847-1877