Empire Built on LOLCats Gets $30 Million

Wall Street Journal ^ | 1/21/11 | Jennifer Valentino-DeVries

[markomalley]

A picture might be worth a thousand words, but add a cute cat and a funny caption, and you apparently have something much more valuable.

A company called Cheezburger Inc., famous for a site dedicated to these so-called LOLCats, said Tuesday that it won a whopping $30 million in funding — which it will use “to become the largest humor network in the world.” Cheezburger, which has been around since 2007, also publishes more than 40 other sites, including the FAIL Blog, which provides photographic evidence of human stupidity, usually captioned with the simple word: “Fail.”

The funding round is being led by Foundry Group — a firm that also has invested in social-gaming company Zynga. Madrona Venture Group, Avalon Ventures and SoftBank Capital also are investing.

So what do these venture capitalists see in the company? Web traffic and a high-margin business. Cheezburger cranks out posts and sites and capitalizes on Internet memes — trends that by definition are spread virally. The company says it has a fan base of 16.5 million people who view 375 million pages a month.

[listenhillary]

The meme is getting a bit long in the tooth. I used to be a regular caturday attendee on Fark.

[BradyLS]

I saw the Cheezburger founders at a computer event. They are probably stunned more than anyone else that something so simple and fun is such a hit. They’re at a loss to explain it.

“It’s just cat pictures with funny captions. We think it’s funny. So do a lot of other folks. What else is there to say?”

[Dallas59]

Evil money makers!

[Yo-Yo]

"Now I can has all the Cheezburgers I wants."

[knarf]

"I saw the Cheezburger founders at a computer event. They are probably stunned more than anyone else that something so simple and fun is such a hit. They’re at a loss to explain it"

God bless capitalistic America.

Actually (IMO), America has been beaten up for the last 20 or so years in that anything that brings a smile will probably make money.

Humor and sarcasm is on the rise in political speak as well.

[paulycy]

They're fat cats now.

[Oztrich Boy]

[Fresh Wind]

So what do these venture capitalists see in the company?

Another way to deliver advertisements to your computer screen, that's what.

[visualops]

They need some quality control. I read the lolcats on my Pre every day, and there are many that are not funny, or do not follow the rules of simplicity and lolspeak. That being said, who cannot laugh at a photo of a crazy cat with the caption “Your Meds. Take Them.” LOL

[The Comedian]

Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.

[paulycy]

It's A Wonderful Life. ;0)

[ClearCase_guy]

[Jet Jaguar]

The catz make the big time.

[Jet Jaguar]

[BradyLS]

FRENZ

We haz them.

[GeronL]

lol

[ican'tbelieveit]

:-)

[The Comedian]

lol

U gived a kitteh his caption, lol.

Ha, I just did too!

Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.

[GeronL]

Here is one I made a while back.