[Posted on February 29, 2008 - 4:36 PM]
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Yelp co-founder and CEO Jeremy Stoppelman says the online recommendation startup is unlikely to go public anytime soon. "We don't anticipate raising another round until we go public, I guess a couple years or so down the line," he says.The company, which lets users publish reviews of restaurants, retail shops, bars, and other products and services, confirmed this week that it has raised $15 million in a fourth round of funding led by DAG Ventures, bringing Yelp's total financing to date to $31 million. Previous investors Benchmark Capital, Bessemer Ventures and PayPal co-founder Max Levchin also participated in the latest funding. Yelp's valuation is roughly $200 million and generates annual revenues of less than $10 million, according to TechCrunch.
That's a hefty valuation for what is effectively a small media company. Yet Yelp appears to have momentum. According to some numbers from the Kelsey Group, as of the end of January the company had 7 million unique visitors, compared with 6 million in December. Users have posted 2.3 million review on the site, the research firm says.
Stoppelman, 30, says Yelp, which he co-founded with chief technology officer Russel Simmons in 2004, remains in startup mode, adding that the latest round should help the company move faster toward profitability. The San Francisco company also will use some of the money to open an office in New York in March. "We are continuing to roll out in cities across the U.S. such as Philadelphia and Atlanta," Stoppleman says. - Maria Woehr
See Feb. 26 post from TechCrunch
For more see Small Business SEM, The Kelsey Group and Epicenter
