Automagically, Ning‘s still binging on money: The social-network-in-a-box startup founded by Marc Andresseen and current CEO Gina Bianchini, has raised another $15 million, at a crazy $750 million valuation in its fifth round, from Lightspeed Venture Partners, reports Kara. This comes after it raised a $60 million round (at $500 million valuation) about a year ago. The latest round brings the total money raised by the Palo Alto-based company to $119 million. I haven’t exactly held back my thoughts on the business; but with this kind of money burn, it is either doing something really right that I don’t know about, or something really wrong. Or, they’re about to buy something with it, likely some widget network.
An aside: Adam Penenberg, the author of the FastCompany cover story on Ning last year — the one I loved — is coming out with a book, called, guess what, Viral Loop. Glad he didn’t name this “paradigm-busting phenomenon” Viral Expansion Loop, coz that would have killed the concept.

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