Digg Raises $28.7 Million To Push Ars Stories to Frontpage Quicker

Social news site Digg has announced a new round of funding today to the tune of $28.7 million. This brings their total funding to $40 million. Digg CEO Jay Adelson notes that the funding will be used to expand the Digg team and move the larger team to a new office in San Francisco. Adelson also notes that currently they are at 30 million unique visitors monthly and that half of those users are non-U.S. Digg will put resources against meeting local user needs in other countries. There will also be investment into architecture – something I think Digg does a great job with.

The funding comes from existing venture backers Greylock Partners, Silicon Valley Bank and the Omidyar Network and was led by new investor Highland Capital Partners. It certainly seems like a lot of money - perhaps they are hunkering down for the potentially bad financial times.

Digg has seen many rumors floating around with regards to acquisitions over the past 18 months including Google and Microsoft.

Our inside source tells us that part of the funding will be to dedicate an employee to pushing Ars Technica stories to the frontpage. 

Brad Stone at the NY Times additionally notes, "Digg will also use the cash to develop analytic tools for its publishing partners who use Digg buttons on their sites (such as the New York Times), so that those publishers can see what kinds of stories resonate with Digg users. The company will also move to larger headquarters in the Potrero Hill neighborhood of San Francisco."