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"Viadeo, the France-based professional social network that competes with LinkedIn, has announced a trio of news items today including the upcoming launch of an innovation lab in San Francisco, the acquisition of French startup Pealk and that it has hit 50 million registered members.\r\n\r\nThe first two events are closely linked and center around Pealk, a 5-man French company that built a people search application for LinkedIn. The service saw impressive uptake when released but its short life ended when LinkedIn\u00A0revoked Pealk access to the API in June\u00A0citing a breach in terms of service.\r\n\r\nPealk's founders were &amp;quot;surprised&amp;quot; by the LinkedIn decision -- claiming that the company had been discussing a potential partnership with them -- but now, six months later, the startup has been acquired by its fellow French firm for an undisclosed sum, which Golden tells TNW is 'six figures'.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nThe deal will see Pealk's 'super search' service -- which proved popular with recruiters for its ability to search through LinkedIn's user data -- rebuilt for Viadeo, while Boris Golden, the company's co-founder and CEO, will head up that activity and also lead the company's new 'Viadeo Labs' team, based in San Francisco.\r\n\r\nViadeo has had an office in the US city since 2010, but Viadeo Labs -- which will open in the coming months -- will be a new addition focused on &amp;quot;outside of the box ideas, projects and products&amp;quot;, Viadeo chief strategy officer Olivier F\u00E9cherolle\u00A0tells TNW. Indeed, LinkedIn itself\u00A0opened\u00A0its own 'incubator' in December with a similar aim of encouraging new thinking.\r\n\r\nThierry Lunati, Viadeo co-founder and its director general, will head up the team which will consist of Golden and four engineers who will explore new approaches, products and business models for the company.\r\n\r\n&amp;quot;The Labs team will be focused on finding great ways to make social networks more useful on a daily basis,&amp;quot; F\u00E9cherolle\u00A0says. &amp;quot;We are sure that there are new products and ideas outside of our current scope -- and multi-local approach -- which can make the service more relevant to our users.&amp;quot;\r\n\r\nF\u00E9cherolle also stresses the importance of emerging markets, which are a key focus of Viadeo -- which runs localized services in China, Russia, South America and other regions. He believes that\u00A0professional social networks like Viadeo should appeal to &amp;quot;more than just white collar workers&amp;quot;, and he says the Labs team will have a massive hand in shaping future product and service development.\r\n\r\nViadeo raised $32 million in new funding last year to spur its growth into emerging markets, and the company has seen particular success in China, where LinkedIn remains unblocked by authorities but is yet to generate local traction.\r\n\r\nHowever, LinkedIn stands a long way ahead of Viadeo worldwide, having just announced 200 million registered users last week. Indeed, Viadeo is in need of all the ideas it can muster;\u00A0LinkedIn has added 50 million users since Viadeo raised funding in April 2012, in which time the French company has added just 5 million new sign-ups.\r\n\r\nThat is one of the reason that spurred Golden into taking the role with Viadeo, unlike his other co-founders who moved on to other projects after netting the proceeds of the Pealk sale.\r\n\r\n&amp;quot;Viadeo needs to be different to LinkedIn, which means a focus on innovation and new ideas; that's the aim of the Viadeo Labs team,&amp;quot; he says.\r\n\r\nDespite just one co-founder coming aboard, both sides tell TNW that the deal\u00A0is an acquisition not an aquihire, since the Pealk product will live on and Golden will retain an influential position with the company.\r\n\r\nThough it has been bought by a fellow French company -- which is ironically located just a stone's throw away from the Pealk office -- Golden and his co-founders traveled to Silicon Valley in the aftermath of their LinkedIn saga, soliciting approaches and offers from other companies. The team settled on Viadeo because of its focus on reviving the product, and Golden believes this is an ideal match.\r\n\r\n&amp;quot;I couldn't have imagined it at the time, but the deal with Viadeo makes so much sense,&amp;quot; he says. &amp;quot;Some US firms wanted to acquihire us but that would have meant that the product would die, and that would have been such a disappointment.&amp;quot;\r\n\r\nGolden is also excited about the potential to be involved in 'a startup within a big company', which what the Viadeo Labs project is aiming to be. The team is set to come together and began work in April/May, so Viadeo users may see the fruits of its labor later this year.\r\n\r\nIt's hard to see Viadeo catching LinkedIn on overall user numbers but, as it continues to push its local approach and focus on emerging markets, it will be interesting to see what release come out of the new Labs team.\r\n\r\nHere's the short press release issued by Viadeo and Pealk today, note that the company's new user numbers are quietly announced in its about section at the bottom:\r\nViadeo Acquires Pealk\r\n\r\nThe merger adds an innovative, high-performance tool to Viadeo\u2019s arsenal of\u00A0solutions for SMBs.\r\n\r\nParis, 14 January 2013 --\u00A0Viadeo, the professional social network with 50 million members worldwide, announced their\u00A0acquisition of French start-up Pealk today. The buyout means that Viadeo members will get\u00A0access to Pealk\u2019s innovative web app, a streamlined interface that helps SMBs find and contact\u00A0professionals on social networks.\r\n\r\nPealk\u2019s app has garnered unanimous praise worldwide and gives professionals a seamless,\u00A0straightforward tool to search, filter, and organize profiles that can then be contacted. Designed\u00A0for maximum productivity, it allows HR and sales professionals to make the most of Viadeo\u2019s\u00A0extensive database.\r\n\r\n\u201CA PSN\u2019s value depends not only on the size of its member base, but on how members can use it\u00A0to their advantage,\u201D states Dan Serfaty, co-founder and CEO of Viadeo. \u201CThat makes Pealk the\u00A0most innovative product we\u2019ve released in the last five years, thanks to its ability to democratize\u00A0social networking for business purposes.\u201D\r\n\r\n\u201CWe\u2019re very proud and pleased with this buyout, which we consider to be the happy ending\u00A0to an exciting adventure,\u201D says Boris Golden, Pealk\u2019s CEO. \u201CIt\u2019s also the beginning of a new\u00A0adventure for us, since there are plenty of applications just waiting to be invented that will give\u00A0professionals more ways to unlock Viadeo\u2019s full potential!\u201D\r\n\r\nThe transaction was conducted in late 2012 for an undisclosed sum. Pealk shareholders were\u00A0advised by Fran\u00E7ois-Bourrier Soifer, partner of the Scemla Loizon Veverka &amp;amp;amp; de Fontmichel law\u00A0firm.\r\n\r\nAbout Viadeo\r\n\r\nViadeo is a professional social network with 50 million members worldwide (Jan. 2013). Available in 8 languages,\u00A0Viadeo is used by those who want to:\r\n\r\n\tSeek out new business opportunities by contacting potential customers, business partners, and suppliers;\r\n\tImprove their online visibility and reputation;\r\n\tManage and grow their network of professional contacts.\r\n\r\nViadeo\u2019s members include business owners, entrepreneurs, and managers from a wide range of industry sectors.\u00A0Every month, more than 1 million new members register on Viadeo, 10 million new connections are made, and\u00A0over 100 million profiles are viewed.\r\n\r\nHeadquartered in Paris, Viadeo also has offices in the UK (London), the US (San Francisco), Spain (Madrid and\u00A0Barcelona), Morocco (Casablanca), Italy (Milan), Russia (Moscow), China (Beijing), India (New Delhi), Mexico\u00A0(Mexico City), and Senegal (Dakar). The company employs 400 staff worldwide.\r\nHeadline image via ThinkStock"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/01/14/pealk-viadeo/>