What do you get when you have a former Microsoft Virtual Earth Lead Developer, a former Senior Exec of Yahoo! as the CEO, a huge wad of cash and a diverse team of creative programmers? You get a local social networking company called FatDoor.
“Building online local communities that scale is an extremely difficult problem to solve, but the market opportunity is immense and consumers are craving a solution that will make this vision a reality. I’m thrilled to be joining Fatdoor at this time because the company has the right team, scalable technology, and go-to-market strategy in place to shift the current local market landscape,” said Jennifer Dulski, CEO of Fatdoor. “Securing funding from leading investors such as NVP and KeyNote Ventures is a testament to the confidence they have in Fatdoors’ technology, team and vision.”
Fatdoor uses Microsoft Virtual Earth to link information around local businesses, events, people, images, descriptions, and other community members.
Today Fatdoor announced that they raised $5.5 million from Norwest Venture Partners and KeyNote Ventures. The funding will be used to enhance the infrastructure and to hire more team members.
“Fatdoor is solving a problem by giving people online tools to help them connect in the real world,” added Norwest Venture Partners Principal Sergio Monsalve. “No one has cracked the code in the local market arena, and we believe Fatdoor has the seasoned team, technical expertise and proven ability to engage consumers and be the leaders in this area.”
Fatdoor is launching publicly in Spring 2008. The company was founded by Chandu Thota in Menlo Park, Calif.
