Viadeo
Encyclopedia
Viadeo is a Web 2.0
professional
social network
with over 35 million members worldwide in 2010, and a membership base that was growing by more than one million per month in 2009. Members include business owners, entrepreneurs and managers from a diverse range of enterprises. The site is available in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.
, a graduate of the HEC School of Management
in Paris, and Thierry Lunati, a graduate of École centrale Paris
.
From November 2006 to August 2007, Viadeo raised €5 million twice in funding from investors AGF Private Equity and Ventech. Later that year, Viadeo announced the acquisition of Tianji.com, a Chinese business social network.
Six months after purchasing Tianji, in July 2008 Viadeo acquired its Spanish competitor ICTnet. Launched in 1995, ICTnet had 300,000 members and popular in South America.
In early 2009, Viadeo acquired the Indian professional social networks services, ApnaCircle. ApnaCircle, with 300,000 members at the time of the acquisition, was founded by Yogesh Bansal and later joined by Sabeer Bhatia
, co-founder of Hotmail
, as board member.
On 13 October 2009, Viadeo announced the acquisition of the Canadian contact management website, unyk.com
. At the time, unyk had 16 million members around the world, and made Viadeo second only to LinkedIn
in terms of total membership.
The company is headquartered in Paris
, and employs a global staff of 200, with offices in London
, Madrid
, Barcelona
, Milan
, Beijing
, New Delhi
, Mexico City
and Montreal
. The company recently opened an office in San Francisco. In 2009, Viadeo had estimated annual turnover of $40 million and is profitable since last quarter of 2009.
Viadeo lets members maintain a list of business partners, allowing them to stay in touch, use or help each other to find a job, or create business opportunities.
countries.
Web 2.0
The term Web 2.0 is associated with web applications that facilitate participatory information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design, and collaboration on the World Wide Web...
professional
Professional
A professional is a person who is paid to undertake a specialised set of tasks and to complete them for a fee. The traditional professions were doctors, lawyers, clergymen, and commissioned military officers. Today, the term is applied to estate agents, surveyors , environmental scientists,...
social network
Social network
A social network is a social structure made up of individuals called "nodes", which are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as friendship, kinship, common interest, financial exchange, dislike, sexual relationships, or relationships of beliefs, knowledge or prestige.Social...
with over 35 million members worldwide in 2010, and a membership base that was growing by more than one million per month in 2009. Members include business owners, entrepreneurs and managers from a diverse range of enterprises. The site is available in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.
Company information
Viadeo was founded in May 2004 by Dan SerfatyDan Serfaty
Dan Serfaty is a French entrepreneur and businessman.He is best known as the co-founder and CEO of the professional social network Viadeo.-Biography:...
, a graduate of the HEC School of Management
HEC School of Management
HEC Paris or École des Hautes Études Commerciales de Paris is one of the foremost business schools in France and in Europe. It was created in 1881 by the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry on the model of French Grandes Ecoles and has progressively become one of the most selective graduate...
in Paris, and Thierry Lunati, a graduate of École centrale Paris
École Centrale Paris
École Centrale Paris is a French university-level institution in the field of engineering. It is also known by its original name École centrale des arts et manufactures, or ECP. Founded in 1829, it is one of the oldest and most prestigious engineering schools in France and has the special status...
.
From November 2006 to August 2007, Viadeo raised €5 million twice in funding from investors AGF Private Equity and Ventech. Later that year, Viadeo announced the acquisition of Tianji.com, a Chinese business social network.
Six months after purchasing Tianji, in July 2008 Viadeo acquired its Spanish competitor ICTnet. Launched in 1995, ICTnet had 300,000 members and popular in South America.
In early 2009, Viadeo acquired the Indian professional social networks services, ApnaCircle. ApnaCircle, with 300,000 members at the time of the acquisition, was founded by Yogesh Bansal and later joined by Sabeer Bhatia
Sabeer Bhatia
Sabeer Bhatia is an Indian American entrepreneur who co-founded the Hotmail email service and Jaxtr.- Background :...
, co-founder of Hotmail
Hotmail
Windows Live Hotmail, formerly known as MSN Hotmail and commonly referred to simply as Hotmail, is a free web-based email service operated by Microsoft as part of its Windows Live group. It was founded by Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith and launched in July 1996 as "HoTMaiL". It was one of the first...
, as board member.
On 13 October 2009, Viadeo announced the acquisition of the Canadian contact management website, unyk.com
Unyk
Unyk.com is a contact management website that allows users to put together an intelligent address book.- Concept :Users complete their personal and professional contact information in their profile on the website. They can then aggregate the contacts from all their messaging services in their...
. At the time, unyk had 16 million members around the world, and made Viadeo second only to LinkedIn
LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a business-related social networking site. Founded in December 2002 and launched in May 2003, it is mainly used for professional networking. , LinkedIn reports more than 120 million registered users in more than 200 countries and territories. The site is available in English, French,...
in terms of total membership.
The company is headquartered in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, and employs a global staff of 200, with offices in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
, Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
, New Delhi
New Delhi
New Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...
, Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
and Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
. The company recently opened an office in San Francisco. In 2009, Viadeo had estimated annual turnover of $40 million and is profitable since last quarter of 2009.
Viadeo service
Viadeo is a business-oriented online social networking platform.Viadeo lets members maintain a list of business partners, allowing them to stay in touch, use or help each other to find a job, or create business opportunities.
Development strategy
Viadeo depends on 3 revenue streams: premium membership, advertising, and services to recruiters. Viadeo's strategy is based on a glocal approach, assuming that most professionals do business locally. With 4.5 million members, China is the most represented country. Since February 2010, Tianji is available in English allowing non-Chinese professionals to communicate and network in China. 10% of members are based in France where Viadeo, according to French Financial newspapers, had a strong effect on traditional French Business School (Grande École) alumni networks. Viadeo is mainly focusing on Europe and emerging countries such as BRICBRIC
In economics, BRIC is a grouping acronym that refers to the countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China, which are all deemed to be at a similar stage of newly advanced economic development...
countries.
Partnerships
- GoogleGoogleGoogle Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
OpenSocialOpenSocialOpenSocial is a set of common application programming interfaces for web-based social network applications, developed by Google along with MySpace and a number of other social networks.It was released November 1, 2007....
: Viadeo is partner since launch in 2007 - IBMIBMInternational Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
Lotus NotesLotus NotesLotus Notes is the client of a collaborative platform originally created by Lotus Development Corp. in 1989. In 1995 Lotus was acquired by IBM and became known as the Lotus Development division of IBM and is now part of the IBM Software Group...
: Viadeo available for professionals using IBM Lotus Notes - Microsoft OutlookMicrosoft OutlookMicrosoft Outlook is a personal information manager from Microsoft, available both as a separate application as well as a part of the Microsoft Office suite...
Connector: Viadeo available on Outlook.
See also
- Business network
- Reputation systemReputation systemA reputation system computes and publishes reputation scores for a set of objects within a community or domain, based on a collection of opinions that other entities hold about the objects...
s - Social networkSocial networkA social network is a social structure made up of individuals called "nodes", which are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as friendship, kinship, common interest, financial exchange, dislike, sexual relationships, or relationships of beliefs, knowledge or prestige.Social...
- List of social networking websites