CrunchFund Took A Stake In Tumblr, Buying From Existing Investors

Today at TechCrunch Disrupt, CrunchFund’s MG Siegler took the stage to interview Tumblr CEO David Karp. But not before disclosing that his fund was now an investor in the New York City-based blogging platform. Neither provided further details of the investment on stage, but we’ve been able to find out a little bit more about the CrunchFund’s stake in Tumblr.

For one thing, the CrunchFund investment wasn’t part of a follow-on round or a new fund raise for Tumblr, but a purchase of common stock from some of Tumblr’s early-stage investors. And while it isn’t taking a huge stake in Tumblr, relative to the startup’s overall investor base, the investment has been described as “significant” to CrunchFund, which has raised $20 million.

CrunchFund partners had been interested in owning a piece of Tumblr for a while, according to a source. But the fund didn’t exist and wasn’t ready to invest at the time that Tumblr last raised money — an $85 million round from investors like Richard Branson, Greylock Partners, Insight Venture Partners, the Chernin Group, Spark Capital, Union Square Ventures, and Sequoia Capital that closed last September. Altogether, Tumblr has raised $125 million over four rounds of funding, and now has 105 employees based in New York City.