Cambodian news site Khmerload, which was launched five years ago and is modeled on the US media giant Buzzfeed, has secured $200,00 in investment from Silicon Valley venture capital seed fund 500 Startups.
Founder and CEO of the local startup, In Vichet, says his company has proved it is scalable, can produce good return on investment, and is now valued at over $1 million. “We showed [the investors] that we are in the top three websites in Cambodia,” said the 33-year-old tech entrepreneur.
“We also have traction in Myanmar, where we recently expanded [with Myanmarload], so they see that we have done a lot while already generating revenue. Some Silicon Valley investors even invest in startups that do not generate income, but in our case we were already making money, so they saw our potential.”
Through their highly efficient strategy, Khmerload has grown to receive more than 17 million pageviews per month in Cambodia, while sister site Myanmarload already generates some 20 million monthly hits in less than a year in operation. While Vichet admits that his site originally relied heavily on tabloid and entertainment content, such as breaking traffic accident reports, to draw in readers, it has now diversified to include more informative content.
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