$10 million in venture capital to help Wallop build social network

Wallop, the social networking startup that was spun out of Microsoft Research Labs earlier this year, has landed $10 million in venture capital that it will use to create a new competitor to MySpace, Friendster and Facebook.

Investors in the San Francisco company, which is presenting at the DEMOfall conference in San Diego this week, include Norwest Venture Partners, Bay Partners and Consor Capital. Microsoft also retains an equity stake in the company, which is led by former Microsoft Corp. employees Karl Jacob and Sean Kelly.

In an interview, Jacob said that Wallop is introducing a new way for 18- to 25-year-olds to "express themselves online."

By JOHN COOK
P-I REPORTER

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