Skip to main content

Allen Lau CEO and co-founder Wattpad, a new form of collaborative entertainment that connects readers and writers across storytelling photographed at his offices on Yonge St., Toronto April 18, 2012, Photo by: Fernando Morales/The Globe and MailFernando Morales/The Globe and Mail

Wattpad, the world's largest community of readers and writers, today announced the company has raised $46-million in Series C funding. The round was led by OMERS Ventures with participation from August Capital, Raine Ventures, and Northleaf Venture Catalyst Fund, Canada's new venture fund.

Wattpad's existing investors, which include Union Square Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Jerry Yang of AME Cloud Ventures, Golden Venture Partners, and Boris Wertz of Version One Venture, also participated in the round.

The company will use the latest funding to expand its team in Toronto. The company plans to move to a new downtown office space at the end of April to accommodate its rapid growth. Series C funds will also be used to support product development and community growth.

"We've grown 200 per cent since this time last year and tens of thousands of people join the Wattpad community each day," said Allen Lau, the CEO and co-founder of Wattpad. "We're on-track to become one of the most successful consumer Internet companies in the world. With this latest investment we'll continue to build a Toronto company that has global impact."

Wattpad is the first social platform to create direct connections between readers and writers on a massive scale. With Wattpad, readers around the world can access millions of free stories from any mobile device or computer, as well as interact with writers. Twenty-five million people spend upwards of 6 billion minutes a month on Wattpad. While the majority of users reside in the U.S., U.K., and Canada, Wattpad is the number one app in the Philippines and 10 per cent of overall traffic comes from Spanish-speaking countries.

Follow us @GlobeSmallBiz, on Pinterest and Instagram
Join our Small Business LinkedIn group
Add us to your circles
Sign up for our weekly newsletter

Interact with The Globe