Viadeo closes $32 million round: One of the largest European tech investments of the last one year

Company Brief

New Delhi, April 16, 2012

Viadeo, the professional social network with over 45 million members worldwide, leader in France and China, has announced the completion of a large fundraising round of $32 million split between the French Sovereign Wealth Fund, the Fonds Stratégique d'Investissement, existing institutional shareholders, Idinvest and Ventech, and a pool of new investors including Allianz, Jefferies, the global investment banking firm, and Middle Eastern private funds. The new investment will allow Viadeo to accelerate growth in Europe and China(with its local brand Tianji), as well as other key emerging markets such as Latin America, Russia, India(with its local brand ApnaCircle), and Africa. This achievement serves as a testament to the value Viadeo brings to its users whether they are managers, corporate professionals, recruiters or entrepreneurs who are its registered users.

Viadeo Group: A leader in Europe and emerging countries

With over 45 million members, Viadeo is the world's second largest professional social network and is growing at one million new members each month. The Viadeo Group comprises of the brands Viadeo, Tianji and ApnaCircle. Viadeo reached profitability in early September 2009 based on its ability to quickly grow and monetise its membership base and due to its robust business solutions for human resources and advertising.

With a clear focus on non-English speaking markets, Viadeo has secured a dominant presence throughout the world emerging as an industry leader in Europe, Latin America and China. The company continues to pursue an aggressive international development strategy with recent partnerships such as the announcement of a joint venture in Russia in the second half of 2011.

"Multi-Local" and emerging countries: a winning strategy

Viadeo's success is based predominantly on its "multi-local" approach to Professional Social Networks, which focuses on leveraging and honoring the local language, business and culture of its members. This strategy has allowed the group to be very successful in emerging markets. In China, for example, Viadeo's subsidiary Tianji has seen tremendous growth in the last year, growing from 100,000 to 500,000 new users per month with 10 million members.

"We're a global society where critical business connections span multiple languages, geographies and cultures," said Dan Serfaty, CEO of Viadeo.

"We have always been laser-focused on our 'multi-local' approach, which goes beyond simple translation and focuses on catering to, and understanding the business and cultural needs of each market. This approach has awarded us tremendous growth and success in both European and emerging markets," he adds.

For further information, please contact:

Value 360 Communications

Ashish Kumar Sahoo

Mobile: +91-9958182658

E-mail: sahooashishkumar5@gmail.com