$30m Investment Adds Muscle to Klout

In the US, Klout - which measures influence across the social web - has raised a reported $30m in a C Round of financing, reportedly with a view to adapting its service to the mobile environment.

Using measurements of behavior, complex ranking algorithms and semantic analysis of content, San Francisco-based Klout measures the influence of individuals and the prevalence of topics around the web. Since its launch in 2008, the firm has gathered more than 4,000 API partners - companies such as TweetUp, CoTweet, Live Intent, Hootsuite, BzzAgent, Trendrr and Viralheat - and indexed over 100 million public profiles.

The firm's latest round of funding has been led by Kleiner Perkins with support from Institutional Venture Partners, Venrock, Greycroft, and ff Venture Capital, and adds to the $1.5m the firm raised in August 2010 and $8.5m a year ago. As part of the deal, Kleiner Partners' Chi-Hua Chien becomes a Klout Board member.

CEO Joe Fernandez (pictured) confirmed in his blog yesterday: 'We've already made significant investments in both engineering and infrastructure, and with this funding we'll invest further in these areas so we can continue to provide the most accurate and transparent measurement of influence. We'll also help our community become better users of social media, expand Klout Perks so that all influencers are rewarded for their influence, and make it clear why it pays to have Klout.'

Web site: www.klout.com .