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Rockmelt funding, valuation and investors
Social web browser acquired by Yahoo in 2013 for roughly $60–70M.
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Funding, valuation & investors
Answer-first snapshotLatest funding
Series B
$30M · June 2011
Latest known valuation
Not publicly disclosed
Total disclosed equity funding
$30M
Excludes debt, grants, acquisitions, secondaries, and IPO proceeds.
Current status
acquired
acquired · Mountain View, CA
Overview
Rockmelt built a social web browser integrating Facebook feeds, Twitter streams, and chat directly into the browsing experience. Founded in 2009 by Eric Vishria and Tim Howes — Howes co-created the LDAP protocol and was a Netscape veteran — Rockmelt raised a $30M Series B in June 2011 led by Accel and Khosla Ventures, with Andreessen Horowitz and First Round participating. Yahoo acquired Rockmelt in August 2013 for approximately $60–70M in an acqui-hire, bringing the team to bolster Yahoo's mobile and social products. The browser shut down after acquisition. Rockmelt represents a16z's early consumer internet bets on reimagining fundamental software categories.
Why Rockmelt is interesting
Ex-Netscape founders tried reinventing browsing around Facebook feeds — Khosla and First Round joined a16z before Yahoo acqui-hired for mobile talent.
Product & use cases
Rockmelt was a Chromium-based social web browser with integrated Facebook feeds, Twitter streams, and chat panels alongside traditional web browsing.
- Social web browsing with integrated Facebook and Twitter feeds
- Real-time chat while browsing
- Content discovery through social graph integration
Key facts
- Series B (Jun 2011): $30M led by Accel and Khosla; a16z and First Round participated
- Acquired by Yahoo (Aug 2013) for ~$60–70M (AllThingsD)
- Founded by Eric Vishria and Tim Howes (Netscape/LDAP co-creator)
- Browser shut down after Yahoo acqui-hire
Funding history (newest first)
Investors in our directory
Funds linked from Rockmelt's profile — open a fund page for stage focus and related deal articles.
Competitive landscape
Edge: Deep social integration at a time when browsers were purely navigational tools. Netscape pedigree of founding team.
Social browsers consistently failed because users preferred dedicated social apps over browser-integrated feeds. Chrome's extension ecosystem and mobile app shift made social browsers redundant. Yahoo's acqui-hire valued the team over the product.
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Google Chrome incumbent
Dominant browser; added social features slowly via extensions.
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Firefox incumbent
Open-source browser without native social integration.
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Flock direct
Earlier social browser attempt; also failed to gain traction.
Notable stories
- Tim Howes co-created the LDAP protocol and was a Netscape veteran before co-founding Rockmelt to reinvent browsing around social feeds (TechCrunch).
- Yahoo acquired Rockmelt for ~$60–70M primarily for mobile talent, shutting down the browser product (AllThingsD, 2013).
Industries
Related funding articles
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FAQs about Rockmelt
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