Viadeo Secures $5m More Funding, But How Does It Achieve Breakout?

Viadeo, aLinkedIn and Xing competitor, has secured $5m of funding from French investment houses AGF, Ventech and other investors (including the wealthy Mulliez family) to accelerate growth and prep for potential acquisitions. The business social network is best known in France, but it’s planning to expand its existing foothold in emerging markets like China, India and Mexico. The latest investment takes the total money it has raised since 2006 to $23m. AGF and Ventech were previous investors. Although this market is seeing a lot of “down round” investments right now (a down round is where investors purchase stock from a company at a lower valuation than previously) I am assured by Viadeo that this is not the case here. The question is whether or not this new momentum can deliver traction and a breakout position.