Deal Radar 2008: hi5 Going Strong

Last week we took a look at Xanga and today we will take a look at hi5, another popular social networking site.

hi5 has an Alexa traffic rank of 8. hi5 is more popular globally than it is in the US. It is the number one site in Peru, Dominic Republic, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Portugal, Honduras, etc. It is among the top 10 sites in many countries, and is especially popular in Latin America. More than 75 million people have registered accounts with hi5, and the site draws over 25 million unique users per month. hi5 has 2.9 million monthly unique visitors in the US.

hi5 secured $20 million in venture capital funding from Mohr Davidow Ventures in July 2007.

The site earns revenues from advertisements and claims to profitable.

hi5 is a good acquisition target for internet/media companies like Yahoo, Comcast, Time Warner, IACI, who have missed out on MySpace and see Facebook as highly over-valued.

hi5 could itself look at acquiring some other social networks like Xanga, Bebo and Friendster or some photo/video or music sharing services to expand its gamut of brands and attract new users/offerings.

hi5 has opened up its site to outside developers. The Company plans to focus on global growth and expand its services in more languages and markets.

This segment is a part in the series : Deal Radar 2008