Gloves come off social networking, foundational patent acquired
All the major VC funds who've bet on large Web-based businesses in the past have now made bets in the social networking space. Is is an incestous space with the founders of Tribe.net and LinkedIn, Marc Pincus and Reid Hoffman respectively now becoming both competitors and original investors in Friendster. According to this interesting News.com story:
As Friendster was hammering out details of its most recent cash infusion--a $13 million Series D investment led by Benchmark Capital and Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers--Pincus and Hoffman formed a limited partnership without Abrams, in order to purchase the so-called "Six Degrees" patent for $700,000....
"I didn't involve Jonathan because I thought Kleiner and Benchmark would try to bid me out," Hoffman said. "It's better to be safe than sorry." Hoffman described the Six Degrees patent as "central to this field."