Evernote Raises $50-100M At More Than $1B Valuation: Is It The Next Instagram?

The popular cloud note-taking application Evernote has raised a gigantic fifth round of funding, reports TechCrunch. The round is said to be somewhere between $50 million to $100 million with a valuation that exceeds $1 billion.

The round was reportedly led by Meritech Capital partners. Prior to the round of funding, Evernote raised $6.5 million in Series A funding (9/9/09), $10 million in Series B funding (11/15/09), $20 million in Series C funding (10/19/10) and $50 million in Series D funding (7/13/11) and more, eventually adding up to a whopping $95.5 million from angel investors.

TechCrunch reports that the round could be closed in the next couple of weeks. The site adds that there's a small chance the round could be scrapped or that the numbers may change.

Considering its previous rounds of funding, Evernote doesn't necessarily need more cash; the extra dollars are likely to be put to use as the company tries to reach larger markets in China and other places overseas.

Evernote had 20 million users across all platforms -- Mac, iOS, Windows, Android, Linux, Blackberry, Windows Phone 7 and others -- in December 2011. The growth Evernote had experienced year-to-year to that date was exceeded 100 percent.

How Does Evernote Compare To Instagram?

One of the clearest differences between Evernote and Instagram is the founding dates. Evernote was founded in 2007 whereas Instagram was founded in March 2010. There is a major discrepancy between the amount of funding that each company has been able to earn in each series of funding.

Instagram received $500,000 in seed funding when it was started in March 2010. During its Series A funding (2/2011), Instagram raised $7 million; in its Series B funding (4/2012), Instagram raised $50 million. The company was reportedly bought for $1 billion from Facebook, though that number is misleading because Instagram was paid mostly in Facebook stock, given at a discounted price, which could skyrocket in value once Facebook hits the public market.

Instagram also has nearly double the users that Evernote has. Within a 10-day span, Instagram's user base grew by 10 million. The latest figure revealed by Instagram was that it had more than 40 million users.

While it's clear that Evernote has become a popular bookmarking and production suite for many, neither its funding nor its user base can compare to Instagram's. At this moment -- especially with the backing of Facebook -- Instagram is one of the greatest success stories of any mobile app-maker. Evernote's saving grace is that it works on more platforms, than Instagram including almost all laptops and PCs.

In the end, with such excellent cross-platform accessibility, Evernote may be able to garner a larger user base than Instagram because of its wide-ranging accessibility. Just don't forget about Facebook's 845 million active users, who could eventually be used to leverage Instagram downloads.