Twitter, the company better known for its short status updates, is learning to embrace the long term with venture capital investments.
On Monday, Twitter's name appeared on a list of investors that had collectively poured $80 million into Cyanogen, a startup founded in 2009 that is building a mobile operating system to rival Android and iOS. This marks the inaugural investment for Twitter Ventures, the VC arm of Twitter that has been kept mostly under wraps until now.
Twitter declined official comment on its VC activity. A source close to the company confirmed this was indeed the debut investment. Twitter Ventures is said to be operating with a "small amount" of the company's overall capital, according to the source, with plans to back businesses that have strategic benefits to Twitter, or that are simply interesting to its executives.
The venture capital arm may give Twitter a valuable sneak peek at
promising new technology. In the past, the company has been late to
multiple features that took users by storm, from pictures to video
sharing, and later made acquisitions to catch up.
For Twitter, the decision to begin using a small portion of the $3.6 billion in cash and marketable securities it had on hand as of the end of last year could help deepen its ties with promising applications, with the potential to broaden its footprint at a time when
"This investment could help propel them into the OS market and they actually may get traction due to their very unique and engaged user base," says Brian Blau, an analyst with Gartner, who covers social media companies.
Other large technology companies like Google and IBM have launched venture funds over the years. In Google's case, the investments can sometimes be precursors to acquisitions, as happened with Nest, the smart thermostat business it invested in and then acquired last year. (Obvious Ventures, a fund launched late last year by a Twitter cofounder, backs "world-positive" businesses.)
Read more Click here / www.advante360.com
On Monday, Twitter's name appeared on a list of investors that had collectively poured $80 million into Cyanogen, a startup founded in 2009 that is building a mobile operating system to rival Android and iOS. This marks the inaugural investment for Twitter Ventures, the VC arm of Twitter that has been kept mostly under wraps until now.
Twitter declined official comment on its VC activity. A source close to the company confirmed this was indeed the debut investment. Twitter Ventures is said to be operating with a "small amount" of the company's overall capital, according to the source, with plans to back businesses that have strategic benefits to Twitter, or that are simply interesting to its executives.
For Twitter, the decision to begin using a small portion of the $3.6 billion in cash and marketable securities it had on hand as of the end of last year could help deepen its ties with promising applications, with the potential to broaden its footprint at a time when
user growth remains a top concern on Wall Street. "As a social networking platform, Twitter is agnostic and wants to reach different audiences," says Vivian Lee, VP of marketing and communications for Cyanogen. The company, which now has 50 million users, could prove to be a valuable platform Twitter as the former pushes to "integrate" more services, ranging from maps to music to social networks.user growth remains a top concern on Wall Street.
"This investment could help propel them into the OS market and they actually may get traction due to their very unique and engaged user base," says Brian Blau, an analyst with Gartner, who covers social media companies.
Other large technology companies like Google and IBM have launched venture funds over the years. In Google's case, the investments can sometimes be precursors to acquisitions, as happened with Nest, the smart thermostat business it invested in and then acquired last year. (Obvious Ventures, a fund launched late last year by a Twitter cofounder, backs "world-positive" businesses.)
Read more Click here / www.advante360.com
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