Jafco gets into a $24m Huddle

Jafco Ventures, the US arm of the eponymous Tokyo-based VC firm, has led a $24m series C funding round in UK ‘Little British Battler’ – and self-appointed Microsoft SharePoint-basher (see  here and work back) – Huddle. Both UK-based A-round financier Eden Ventures and US-based B-round financier Matrix, threw more money into the pot, as did other investors. This brings Huddle’s total funding to $40b.

I spoke to US-based Huddle co-founder, Andy McLoughlin, who told me that the additional funds will be invested in ‘product, sales and technology’. M&A is on the agenda. McLoughlin intimated that Huddle’s revenues have more than trebled over the past year which would put them north of £5m. Now cash flow positive, McLoughlin is looking for Huddle to turn a profit next year – they lost net £3.4m in FY11.

The race is on for an exit in the next couple of years. An IPO would be nice – but would it be here? Or perhaps more likely, a trade sale – with the same question. As we have said many, many times before, we really do need UK tech success stories that don’t end with a rousing chorus of the Star-Spangled Banner! After all, look what just happened to …