If you’re reading TechCrunch right now (you are, by the way), chances are you have at least heard of Meerkat. You may even be simultaneously hoping that you don’t have to fall prey to the new SXSW sweetheart before the trend of live broadcasting is over. But this is no Yo.
Sources familiar with the matter tell TechCrunch that Meerkat has closed on a $12 million Series B led by Greylock’s Josh Elman, with participation from other unknown angels. One source, who wished to remain anonymous, said that the deal valued Meerkat at $52 million post-investment. We’re also told that Greylock put in the majority (between $9M and $10M), with the rest of the Series B stock being picked off by angels.
Meerkat, the new broadcasting app that took SXSW by storm, may have gained some credibility in the past few weeks with rumors (and later an official confirmation) that Twitter was in talks to purchase a direct Meerkat competitor, Periscope. Twitter’s validation of live one-to-many broadcasting, as well as a defensive move to shut down part of Meerkat’s social graph access, may have eased discussions as Meerkat went into fundraising mode.
Meerkat (company name Life on Air, Inc. and formerly Yevvo) raised just over $3.5 million in seed and Series A funding in January of this year, according to an SEC filing. But given Meerkat’s traction over the last month — Meerkat topped 160k users earlier this week, before folks like Snoop Dogg and Jimmy Fallon joined the mob — a quick Series B makes sense given the situation.
We’re told by sources that Meerkat has now topped 300K users total, more than 200K of which come from the iOS app.
On Thursday, The Information reported that Meerkat was in talks with Greylock Partners, and shortly after Business Insider’s Alyson Shontell and Steven Tweedie confirmed discussions, as well as a $40 million pre-money valuation.
This jibes with what we’ve heard around the deal, with Meerkat valued at $40 million in this latest Series B.
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TechCrunch reached out to both Greylock and Meerkat before publishing. We’ll update the post as soon as we hear back.
