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Social Networking Tool KickApps Picks up $11 Million
NY-based KickApps has picked up an additional $20 million * in second-round financing, PEHub reports. We initially profiled KickApps back in June. Silicon Ally Insider also reports regarding KickApps, "Last week, KickApps hired Michael Chin to run the company's marketing strategy. Chin previously headed up bizdev at PR firm Bite Communications."
KickApps is similar to Ning in that it can help you create a white-labeled social network to an existing site. I have written several times in the past that building upon others technology could be a recipe for disaster if that company goes under.
I guess some of the $20 million will help them continue to the banner ads they are running through Federated Media on sites such as TechCrunch, Read/WriteWeb and Mashable. Congrats to all involved! I asked the company for an interview last week but have yet to hear back.
Update: Mashable Pete has the lowdown - it's $11 million not $20 as PEHub reported for a total of $18 million.
Kickapps is a nice platform with advantages and disadvantages. I am trying it for a portfolio of NFL related community sites of mine and here are the main snapshot:
Advantages: Clean looking; Site operator can build widgets easily grabbing uploaded media or other parts of the site and embed the created widgets in other sites and blogs
Disadvantages: Not yet able to grab an external widget and embed within my site, internal blog, or the message board; not comprehensive enough when it comes to using your own domain name for your community.
What Aaron from Kickapps told me is that the solution of grabbing external widgets can be solved by setting up my own home page somewhere else and then link the community part to kickapps. He also mentioned that those features maybe on future releases.