As we look toward a new year, we’d like to look back at some examples of startups and established companies, including those from Facebook's own fbFund program, that built their businesses on Facebook Platform and with Facebook Connect, and made significant strides in funding, acquisitions, and creating new jobs in 2009.
Here are 10 of the many Facebook Platform success stories of 2009:
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Life360 – Following their public launch at TechCrunch50’s DemoPit, fbFund recipient Life360 closed a $750,000 round in November to continue building their safety and security services.
NutshellMail – Earlier this year, NutshellMail raised $600,000 in a round of seed funding that closed upon their acceptance into the fbFund program.
Playfish - One of the largest social games developer on Facebook Platform, Playfish was recently acquired by Electronic Arts for $275 million, including $25 million in equity retention arrangements and a $100 million variable cash consideration. The company also opened a new game development studio in San Francisco, in addition to offices in London, San Francisco, Beijing, and Norway.
Playdom - Playdom has had a whirlwind year, announcing this month that they are profitable, and recently <a href="http://venturebeat.com/2009/11/11/playdom-raises-43-m-for-social-gaming/>raised $43 million in funding and acquired fellow Facebook developer Green Patch and iPhone developer Trippert Labs. Playdom has grown to a staff of 210 full-time people, with most of those hired this year.
PopCap - The game developer behind the hit Bejeweled series raised $22.5 million in its first ever round of investment funding, as the Seattle-based company continues to build social experiences on Facebook Platform, on the iPhone with Bejeweled 2 integrated with Facebook Connect, and its online game Zuma.
RunMyErrand - This past fbFund recipient and Boston-based company raised $1 million in a Series A round that will go toward expanding business to San Francisco and building communities of people that help each other with day-to-day tasks.
Samasource - The non-profit went on from fbFund to grow to 520 workers in six countries, who are earning far more than the 50 cents a day they were earning in labor camps. Samasource has also generated over a quarter million dollars in sales working for clients like Google and the Stanford University Library.
Thread.com - Following the fbFund REV program, social dating startup Thread.com raised $1.2 million in Series A funding from First Round Capital and angel investors.
Watercooler - This past November, Watercooler raised $5.5 million in a second round of funding to fuel the growth of its leading fantasy sports applications.
Weardrobe - Making fashion more social with Facebook, Weardrobe was acquired by Like.com in November. The past fbFund participant's fashion sharing functionality will be integrated into Like.com's visual search engine.
We were also thrilled to see wide adoption of Facebook Connect in 2009, across more than 80,000 websites that went more social with Facebook integrations, including Urbanspoon, which was acquired by IAC in April; OpenTable, which went public in May and acquired GuestBridge, Inc. in September, textbook rental site Chegg, which raised $57 million in November; and Etsy, which yesterday announced that it had reached profitability.
We'd like to say thank you to the developers and entrepreneurs who make up the Facebook Platform ecosystem and congratulations on your accomplishments in 2009.
Ethan, director of the Facebook Developer Network, is looking forward to another year of developers empowering people to connect with one another.
