New York-based viral content provider BuzzFeed raises $50M from Andreessen Horowitz

New York-based viral content provider BuzzFeed has raised $50 million from Andreessen Horowitz, a $4 billion California-based venture capital firm. As part of the deal, Chris Dixon, general partner at Andreessen Horowitz- who was an early investor in BuzzFeed when he was in New York seed-stage venture firm Founder Collective- has joined the board of the company.

"We're presently in the midst of a major technological shift in which, increasingly, news and entertainment are being distributed on social networks and consumed on mobile devices. We believe BuzzFeed will emerge from this period as a prominent media company," Dixon wrote in a blog post.

"I believe the future of BuzzFeed- and the media industry more generally- will only get brighter as the number of people with internet-connected smartphones grows, and the internet solidifies its place as the central communication medium of our time," he added.

Started in 2006, BuzzFeed offers light content such as internet memes and funny photos. The company's co-founder and chief executive, Jonah Peretti had previously co-founded the Huffington Post. According to Dixon, BuzzFeed reaches over 150 million people on a monthly basis and is profitable. He further mentions that the company is expected to generate triple digit millions in revenues this year.

The company had previously raised $46 million in four rounds of venture funding from investors including Hearst, Lerer Hippeau Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, RRE Ventures, SoftBank Capital and SV Angel, apart from Founder Collective. Andreessen Horowitz is known to invest in entrepreneurs building companies at every stage- from seed to growth.