paidContent - Grou.ps Adds $1 Million In Funding For DIY Social Networks
This story was written by Tameka Kee.
Do-it-yourself social network platform GROU.PS has raised $1 million in the second tranche of its first round of funding. The new money comes from Golden Horn Ventures, the same firm that invested $1.1 million in the startup roughly a year ago. VentureBeat reports that GROU.PS’ more than 100 million registered users have created about 40,000 groups—though the majority of its users are outside the U.S. The S.F.-based startup faces stiff competition: Ning is the most well-known of the create-your-own social media platforms, with over 200,000 active networks; there’s also KickApps, which lets users create widget-based networks.
GROU.PS has a number of features that it hopes will separate it from the pack: users can create wikis, photo albums, maps and calendars. Then there’s the monetization. In addition to running Google (NSDQ: GOOG) AdSense ads, GROU.PS has launched a subscription feature, which lets network creators charge membership fees. Network creators can choose to run performance ads (things like Netflix (NSDQ: NFLX) trials) which people then can use to offset the cost of their memberships.
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By Tameka Kee