bloggingbuyouts

LinkedIn is the social networking operator that just about every business person has received an invite to join from at least one person they know.

The company issued a press release this morning noting that it has secured $53 million in additional funding in a capital raise. This was its fourth and largest round of funding and is said to value the company north of $1 billion. What is perhaps more interesting than anything is that the finding was from a private equity-led group rather than from venture capital. Bain Capital Ventures, the VC unit of Bain, led the financing with additional reinvestment from the company's existing investors:

• Sequoia Capital,
• Greylock Partners,
• and Bessemer Venture Partners.

Over 23 million professionals use LinkedIn to keep in touch with old contacts, to reach new contacts, to problem-solve, and more.

To top matters off, CNBC hosted the head of the company, Dan Nye, earlier this morning and the hint of going public was much more than a hint. It seems like you can probably expect an S-1 filing with the SEC in the relatively near future if things continue, although that timing could be later in 2008 or into 2009 or even never. But the 'we are going for valuations much higher than this' line was a hard one not to notice. Personally, I'll go ahead and 'bet the over' that we see an IPO filing in the coming months as long as market conditions don't go further awry.

OLX, a CraigsList look-alike, has secured some $13.5 million in second round funding according to a report from PEHub.com. Backers are listed as General Catalyst Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, Founders Fund and DN Capital.

This is one we have looked into before when doing comparisons. It is of those online portal and classifieds destinations that has sprouted up on the web last year (although it says founded 2006). The focus on this one seems to be more of an international focus rather than US-dominated, although many listings are in the U.S.

OLX says that it means free local classifieds on a global level, which allows users to meet others, express themselves, trade products, find jobs, apartments, offer services, and more. According to its own site, the company is privately held and was founded in 2006. The service does say it will send an accept PayPal payments.

The company site lists the following as its target markets: Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Pakistan, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, and Venezuela.

Interestingly enough, it also says users can be assured of a spam-free experience. Did they figure out a way to keep the Indian IT shops from sending you spam email for an IT request that you specify as on-site and local only with the request of no foreign firms sending emails (and they still do!)? While it is a Craigslist look-alike, the number of postings and the offerings seem a small fraction in comparison.