Dave Sifry’s blog search platform, Technorati has come a long way since it’s inception.  In 2006, Technorati won numerous awards including the Best Technical Achievement and Best of Show at South by Southwest and was also nominated for a 2006 Webby award.

Sifry launched Technorati in 2002.  The name, Technorati is based on the fusion of the words technology and literati (intellectuals).  Technorati allows users to search for blogs, photos, and other media.  Technorati redesigned their platform in 2007 to gain the attention of bloggers, Internet startups, entrepreneurs, and mainstream media.

In the first three rounds of investment, Technorati brought in $21.6 million.  Today the company announced that they have raised $7.5 million out of a targeted $10 million Series D round.  Montgomery & Co. is working on brokering an acquisition of the blog search engine company.

Previous investors in Technorati include Draper Fisher Jurvetson, August Capital, and Mobius Venture Capital.  In this round, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Mobius Venture Capital, and FG Incubation participated.

Upon visiting the Technorati homepage I noticed that at the top it says, “what’s percolating in blogs now.”  The frontpage consists of stories in the media that many blogs are commenting on and linking to.  This approach is very similar to Techmeme and Digg.

Technorati has a feature called Authority and Ranks individual blogs.  The more a blog gets linked to, the more authority and ranking it receives. The top 100 blogs on Technorati are available at: http://technorati.com/pop/blogs/.

Technorati will be making an official announcement next week about the funding and will be announcing a business strategy initiative.  Look for additional Technorati news next week.

Information Sources:
[1] paidContent: More Cash For Technorati: Blog Searcher Gets $7.5 Million Of $10 Million Fourth Round by Joseph Weisenthal
[2] TechCrunch: Technorati Confirms New Financing; New Business Focus Coming by Michael Arrington

“Meebo is a highly-promising company with an incredible team and defendable technology,” stated Carter Brokaw, the Chief Revenue Officer of Meebo. “From a monetization perspective, I’m looking forward to helping leverage Meebo’s core strength by bringing brands into the conversation in ways that are engaging, integrated and measurable.”

Meebo announced today that they have hired Carter Brokaw, a former CNET and Warner Music executive.  Meebo will also be rolling out an advertising system.  Users will be respond positively or negatively to the types of ads that they are shown according to Marshall Kirkpatrick at ReadWriteWeb.

Montgomery & Co. is currently working with Meebo to raise additional funding as well.  Rumor has it that Meebo is looking for $250 million.  Meebo currently has a bubble ad platform where advertisers where they can set background skins, distribute buddy icons, and embed video ads.

Soldiers in Iraq, librarians, teachers, and retailers all use Meebo.  Meebo has over 30 million users and the chat client is available in about 53 languages.

Information Sources:
[1] ReadWriteWeb: Marketing 2.0: Can Meebo Make it Real? by Marshall Kirkpatrick
[2] CenterNetworks: Interview with Seth Sternberg, Founder Meebo by Allen Stern
[3] TechCrunch: Meebo Can’t Get Their Price, Goes For Fundraising Instead Of Sale by Michael Arrington

Meebo is an online application that allows users to log into several different instant message systems remotely.  These IM systems include AIM, Yahoo! Messenger, MSN, Google Talk, ICQ, and Jabber.  Meebo launched in 2005 and received $12.5 million in funding from Sequoia Capital and Draper Fisher Jurvetson.  Over 100 million IMs are sent daily through Meebo.  Several media companies use Meebo to connect to their fans through by using Meebo’s chat room features.

The rumor on the Internets is that Meebo is looking to raise an additional $25-$30 million.  And that Meebo has hired San Francisco, Calif.-based investment bank, Montgomery & Co. to help find an investor.  If Meebo is able to raise those funds, their valuation could become $250 million.  Meebo receives 29 million monthly unique visitors per month.

Meebo was started by Sandy Jen and Seth Sternberg.  The company also recently hired Martin Green from CNET to work in business development.

[Information Source: VentureBeat/AllThingsD]