Empire Built on LOLCats Gets $30 Million

Wall Street Journal ^ | 1/21/11 | Jennifer Valentino-DeVries

[markomalley]

A picture might be worth a thousand words, but add a cute cat and a funny caption, and you apparently have something much more valuable.

A company called Cheezburger Inc., famous for a site dedicated to these so-called LOLCats, said Tuesday that it won a whopping $30 million in funding — which it will use “to become the largest humor network in the world.” Cheezburger, which has been around since 2007, also publishes more than 40 other sites, including the FAIL Blog, which provides photographic evidence of human stupidity, usually captioned with the simple word: “Fail.”

The funding round is being led by Foundry Group — a firm that also has invested in social-gaming company Zynga. Madrona Venture Group, Avalon Ventures and SoftBank Capital also are investing.

So what do these venture capitalists see in the company? Web traffic and a high-margin business. Cheezburger cranks out posts and sites and capitalizes on Internet memes — trends that by definition are spread virally. The company says it has a fan base of 16.5 million people who view 375 million pages a month.

[GeronL]

oops wrong pic

[GeronL]

[Slings and Arrows]

Cheezburgers all round az lolcats netz US$30 million [Taiwanese animation - MOAR FUNNEH!]

[iceskater]

LOL LOL LOL LOL!

[NoGrayZone]

LOL cats is one of the BEST sites....FR is #1 of course. We all know what our crazy furballs are thinking, this gives them their own little “outlet”.

Thank goodness they don't have opposable thumbs.....yet.

[Allegra]

[Monkey Face]

Hi, Girl!

how are things with you?

[Allegra]

Hi 'Face! I'm doing fine on a brisk (almost) full-moon night in the desert.

How are you doing?

[Monkey Face]

I’m just plodding right along! (I also wanted to let you know you are always in my prayers!)

Must be cold at night where you are, eh? Another reason to love the desert! ;o]

[Monkey Face]

Thanks for the ping!

[Fawn]

I also been a fan for YEARs.....although lately, I'm getting aggravated with the insertion of other pets in the CAT thread. Whatzupwiththat?? It says LOLCATS....not LOLPARROTSCAMELSRABBITS.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

[Slings and Arrows]

My pleasure.

[martin_fierro]

[LucyT]

[Jack Deth]

Ohai, ebbewunz:
I metz Ben at 4th Birffday 4 ICHC!



Ben amz awn t3h lefft.
Himz am smrt gye. Jusst wawntz 2
watch himz empire growz!

Shayrdz t3h eevent wiff
Cawpeeryte Infrinnjjment Groop
4 'Pleh! Viddee~O'z!!!


Jack.

[patriot08]

[boatbums]

Thank goodness they don't have opposable thumbs.....yet.

[NoGrayZone]

Damn....we’re screwed!

[The Cajun]

They do pretty good without thumbs, I had to put extra magnets on every pantry door in the kitchen to keep the nosy little suckers out. Once one figured out where the cat food was kept, they all knew ;^)

[NoGrayZone]

Lord help us all!