Path raises $25 million in Series C funding

After rough 2013, the social network is starting 2014 out on the right foot

2013 was a pretty rough year for Path, the social network built around exclusivity. The company was fined by the FTC for privacy violations, was forced to lay off 20% of its staff and lost two of its key staff members, both its CTO and its head of business.

Individually those would all be bad news items. Taken together, that is the kind of news that can spook investors and sink a company.

Fortunately for Path, investors have not gotten scared and so the company is starting 2014 on the right foot, having raised a $25 million Series C round, according to a report out from ReCode's Kara Swisher on Friday.

The funding came from new investor Bakrie Global Group, as well as previous investors Greylock Partners, Kleiner Perkins, Index Ventures, Insight Venture Partners, Redpoint Venture Partners and First Round Capital.

Path had previously raised over $40 million, including a $8.65 million Series A from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Index Ventures and Digital Garage Japan at the beginning of 2011 and a $30 million Series B round from Greylock Partners, Redpoint Ventures, Jerry Murdock , Sir Richard Branson, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Index Ventures, Mark Pincus, Yuri Milner and Allen & Company in April 2012. The new funding puts Path's total amount to $65 million.

Path will be using the new funding to accelerate growth and engagement, as well as continuing to expand its revenue efforts, founder and CEO Dave Morin told ReCode. The company is also developing the fourth version of the service.

The company is specificially looking toward Asia as a market for potential growth, which is why Path took an investment from Bakrie, which is located in Indonesia.

“Our business there is stronger than people understand,” Morin said. “I was both looking to understand that market and find a local partner to expand our operations.”

Path, which hit 10 million users in April of last year, seems to have more than doubled that number since than, as Morin now says that it has 23 million customers registered worldwide.

Morin admitted that raising the new money “was on the more difficult side, after a challenging 2013," but also said that going through the hardships of last year has made it a better company.

“We’re a maturing business, but still a kid,” he said. “But I think we have grown up a lot over the last year and learned a lot of lessons, even though they were not necessarily easy ones.”

VatorNews has reached out to Path, as well as multiple investors in the round, to confirm the report. We will update if we learn more. 

(Image source: https://path.com)