VC Rating: Scribd tries to live up to YouTube comparison

from VC Ratings by Joshua Jaffe

Company: Scribd Description: Online document storage and sharing Competitors: eClips Location: San Francisco Amount Raised: $3.5 million Round: First Date Announced: 6/5/07 VC Firms: Redpoint Ventures, Kinsey Hills Group VC Directors: N/A Quick Take: Founded last summer with $12,000 and launched in December with another $40,000, Scribd took a big step up with its recent $3.5 million first round funding at a reported post-money valuation of $17.5 million. Aside from that lofty valuation, Scribd is being called the 'YouTube of Documents.' They prefer to refer to themselves as the 'World's Largest Open Document Library'. Sounds similar to Google's mission. Whatever the tagline, Scribd has big expectations to live up to. It can meet them if it can extend its first mover advantage as the biggest document storing and sharing service online. Monetization is a dream. The trick will be to convince more people to participate.

Technology (1 out of 10): 5 Market: 8 Management: 3 Chances for IPO: 3 Overall VC Rating: 7