HackerNoon raises $250k in funding at $50M Valuation led by Forward Research

Hacker Noon, one of the leading tech blog sites that focuses on coding, blockchain, and startups, has $250k in funding at a valuation of $50 million from the leading R&D firm for the Arweave ecosystem Forward Research.

As part of the deal, Forward Research purchased 5,728 shares of HackerNoon common stock shares at $42.55 per share, giving the company a $50M pre-money valuation. HackerNoon, which recently exceeded one billion words published, also agreed to back up the HackerNoon library on Arweave to ensure that the site and contributing writers, will have Web3 backups for all their stories.

“This is great news for our shareholders, who’ve previously purchased shares at the 2019 equity crowdfunding price of $8.20 and at the 2020 strategic investment price of $11.35, which was the last issuing of new HackerNoon shares,” the company said in a statement.

Founded in 2016 by David Smooke and Linh Dao Smooke, the Edwards, Colorado-based platform is a hub for sharing ideas, stories, and experiences related to cutting-edge technology. Hackernoon’s content covers a broad range of topics, from software development and artificial intelligence to blockchain and cybersecurity. They’re big on open-source tech and want to spread the knowledge and insights of the tech community far and wide.

The announcement comes four years after the company raised $1,064,323.11 (before the platform and payment process fees) from 1,200 of its readers.

In an email to Tech Startups,  “We are proudly funded by 1.2k readers. Instead of raising money from VCs, we wanted to be accountable to the people who actually value HackerNoon. And by bringing on strategic technology partners like Forward Research, we are aligning our interest and ability to build and integrate cutting-edge publishing technologies with HackerNoon.”

Before this partnership with Forward Research, Hackernoon stated that it has built and integrated functions to further HackerNoon’s journey into the world of Web3.

HackerNoon goes beyond publishing articles on blockchain, cryptocurrencies, and web3. They actively strive to integrate their publishing system with emerging technologies that are poised to shape the future of the internet. HackerNoon aims to collaborate with innovative products and companies like Arweave, which have made significant technological advancements in the field of digital publishing.

“We backed up the entire HackerNoon library on Arweave for about $58,” Smooke said in a statement. “We’re still in the very early days of a truly decentralized internet, but when it comes to hosting and distributing digital text, we’re thrilled to be a small part of driving that cost towards zero.”