Social Media is going niche. Nextdoor raises another 60 million on top of the 40 million it has. Lovely idea.

The future of Social networking is niche.

By that I mean, that people will not just want broad Social Media networks where 'one size fits all' but rather networks that are full of like minded people. People interested in the same sports or same team; the same artists or bands; the same hobbies or interests.

Of course niche means smaller. So your reach for such a social media site is to a narrower base of people - but in global terms, that can still be in the millions. 

For example a Social network dedicated to Soccer or American Football or U2 or Baking (on which Pinterest was largely built by the way). 

Nextdoor, is one of those and to prove it, they've just raised 60 million usd, having previously raised 40 million usd. Their slogan is, 'Your neighbourhood online'. It's Social Media for neighbours.

It's on the go for two years.

Nextdoor is a Social network for neighbourhoods. A chance to meet people who live near you online and perhaps offer them local services like babysitting, or just to engender goodwill. Perhaps just looking out for a neighbour or alerting them to things that are going on. Helping to create community.

Most of us don't know our extended neighbours and Nextdoor helps us to do that or at least, those of us that want to. It also allows local trade, never a bad thing, to generally make our lifestyles better.

Nextdoor as yet, doesn't generate revenue but clearly as the network develops, revenue opportunities such as local advertising or local trading, will. 

Not a bad idea at all.
Social Media is becoming niche.

24 hour deluge in funding. There's money out there.

I was just looking at the number and value of deals going on at the minute on Techcrunch - and it's huge.


Talk of a "bubble" abounds......and, well, just look at these....


Sonos, the producers of high end wireless home audio has raised another 135m usd bringing its total funding to 200m.
White Sky, producing security software raised 7.5m usd
Dropcam raised 12m bringing its funding to over 17m


Codeacademy, who wants to teach the world to code, raised 10m
Cvent, an online event management company acquired SeedLabs for 4.2m
Bright, a job board, raised 6m


Bluebox, focussed on mobile security, raised 9.5m
Onefinestay, which allows out of towners rent their homes, raised 12m
Burst, a mobile sharing concept, raised 3.5m


Tencent buys a minority stake in Epic games, although money undisclosed
VHX in the independent video producer space, got 1.25m
Yext a business listings sync concept, announced a 27m round of funding


Crushpath, which allows salespeople do better deals, got 2m
Shapeways a 3D printing company got 6.2m


Never heard of them? Well that, dear reader, is since yesterday.
Yesterday. And I'm sure there's more.


There's money out there to invest in good ideas and pretty good money too. It seems to me to be a deluge as investors scramble to get into online.


Most of these are US based and I hear time and time again, that if you have a good idea, you'll fund it far quicker on the West coast. But it's really encouraging to see that level of investment going in.


The space grows and grows.
Good to see it.
Great to see it.