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Blogger haven Tumblr takes in $85m investment

Tumblr is the latest social outlet to see a surge in spending cash, as venture capitalists – including Sir Richard Branson – poured $85 million into the start-up. First reported by the New York Times and subsequently confirmed by the company itself, Tumblr found the financing through Greylock Partners, Insight Venture Partners, the Chernin Group, Spark Capital, Union Square Ventures and Sequoia Capital in addition to Branson. “This additional capital allows us to continue to scale our business and give real focus to the further development of Tumblr,” chief executive and founder David Karp said in an email. Tumblr launched just under five years ago as a more social alternative to traditional blogging services. Incorporating features such as simple ‘reblogging’ – similar to retweeting, only on a larger scale – the site has grown to become a powerhouse in the social media sphere. A report published by Nielsen earlier this month confirmed the surge of the social standout, saying it had nearly tripled its number of unique US visitors in just one year – and purely on word of mouth advertising. The New York-based firm also recently eclipsed 10 billion total posts, based on nearly 30 million unique blogs, and all signs lead to an IPO for the company some time in 2012

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Blogger haven Tumblr takes in $85m investment