Elevation invests in Yelp, up to $100 million
Elevation Partners, the Silicon Valley private equity firm that counts U2’s Bono among its investors, announced Wednesday that it has committed up to $100 million in funding for reviews site Yelp.
It’s initially investing $25 million in the Series E round, and plans to increase the investment to up to $100 million through the purchase of stock from employees whose stock has vested, as well as other eligible shareholders. Elevation co-founder Marc Bodnick will join Yelp’s board of directors.
The funding round comes just a month after Yelp was reportedly close to a $500 million acquisition by Google, and then is believed to have turned down the deal at the 11th hour. At the time, it was widely believed that Yelp may have made the about-face because a better deal came along.
“We have been able to grow and scale our business quickly, even in the tough economic environment of the last year–a clear indicator that we’ve only begun to realize the potential of local search,” Yelp CEO and co-founder Jeremy Stoppelman said in a release. “This investment in Yelp provides us with even more capital to focus on scaling our already proven business model and we are thrilled to have Elevation as a new partner.”
Translation: They think they can get much bigger than $500 million.
- CNET