Quora launched Verified Profiles last month for its most influential users, and today closed a new round of Series C funding pegged at $80 million.
According to inside sources, the latest funding now values the question-driven social network at around $900 million.
Back in May 2012, the company raised $50 million in Series B, however, has yet to drain through all that cash. The question then is why does Quora need more money if its bank account is still well fed?
CEO Adam D’Angelo explains it’s more in case of a bad economic climate, and to ensure that even if funding was to become hard to come by, it could continue chugging along.
“I think we want our users to trust that Quora is a place that they can share their knowledge and that we’re going to keep that knowledge available forever.”
Investor Tiger Global Management is content with the social network’s long-term vision, and doesn’t appear focused on making a quick buck.
From D’Angelo:
“They’ve invested in a lot of similar companies. They understood all our metrics really well. They’re also very long-term oriented. We won’t have near term pressure to sell or make money. Tiger said they were willing to hold on to our stock for 10 years which is a perfect alignment with our strategy.”
Competitor Jelly launched in January, but D’Angelo believes contributors are more interested in their responses having a longer shelf life:
“If you’re just creating a light, highly perishable experience it might be okay. But if a writer is going to write a long, awesome answer to a question, they’d like that question to appear forever.”
The day will come where Quora will have to deliver a return on investments, but it has 80 million new reasons to keep pushing forward towards that day.
Photo credit: Jonas M Luster
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