Update: Flixster actually didn't raise any new money, instead the SEC filing below comes from the $12.5 million in shares the company issued to News Corp. for its Rotten Tomatoes purchase. Original story below. ---
A little over a month after it gobbled up primary competitor Rotten Tomatoes, Flixster, a social-networking site for movie enthusiasts, has landed $12.5 million in a new round of equity and common stock, according to a filing with the SEC. The San Francisco company has already been growing fast, but the new money could kick it up another notch.
The January Rotten Tomatoes acquisition came at an opportune time. Flixster was looking to expand its market share, and News Corp., Rotten Tomatoes' parent company, was looking to purge subsidiaries that were not so relevant to its core business. Both succeeded -- with Flixster consolidating an audience of 30 million unique monthly visitors.
But this is just one of several recent deals that has boosted the Flixster brand. At the start of February, it announced a partnership with Skyhook Wireless to provide theater information and showtimes to Android application users. It also recently teamed up with The Hollywood Reporter to combine Flixter's cinematic quizzes, games and polls with the publication's editorial content -- just in time for awards season.
These two developments indicate the company's desire to expand in multiple directions. For a while now, its core competency has been allowing users to easily share movie reviews and rankings with one another. Now it's hopping into the location-based information game with Skyhook and attempting to extend its original editorial content while reaching new prospective users.
Flixster previously raised $7 million over two rounds from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Pinnacle Ventures and LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman.