Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2011/03/27/flipboard_joins_bubble/

Flipboard joins bubble brigade with US$200M valuation

Revenue? We’ve heard of it

By Richard Chirgwin

Posted in On-Prem, 27th March 2011 22:41 GMT

Flipboard, a nifty app that assembles social media feeds into a nicely-presented iPad magazine, is on the funding hustings and looking to capitalise on the now-emerging tech bubble 2.0.

According to Wall Street Journal blogger Kara Swisher, “sources close to” the fundraising effort – which could mean informed sources, wild guessers, or investment bankers on the make – the company is attracting a valuation of US$200 million.

The company currently has zero revenues, but it’s hopeful to create an advertising model sometime this year.

The WSJ also moots some kind of subscription model (for content sourced from feeds Flipboard doesn’t own, but merely aggregates and wraps in a pretty interface).

While its basic premise isn’t anything special – the author has started to filter his Twitter account to get rid of the mass of desperately awful “e-daily” sites offered by enthusiastic self-promoters – the interface is the killer, which made Flipboard a runner-up in El Reg’s “Smartest iPad apps” last year. Whether a slice interface can substitute for prosaic details like revenue, only time will tell. ®