Jobster (profile; site ) pulled a rabbit out of the hat Thursday, announcing that its investment group has come up with $7 million in a fourth round of financing.
This latest “D” round of financing brings to $56 million the total amount invested in the company since its founding. Even before the latest round, Jobster’s hometown newspaper, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer , called the company one of the most heavily funded consumer startups in the nation.
The uncharacteristically terse, two-sentence statement said simply that the company had gotten the money and the investors include Ignition Partners, Trinity Ventures, Mayfield Fund and Reed Elsevier Ventures. Nothing was said of the company’s financial position or how it planned to use the money.
In light, however, of the company’s heavy losses it is likely that the $7 million infusion will be used to cover operating expenses. In the four years since its January 2004 founding the company burned through some $46 million, most of it coming from the same group that put up the latest round.
A letter sent to earlier this year to stockholders and those holding stock options, detailed the company’s financial position. The letter said Jobster lost about $11 million in 2007 and had less than $3 million in the bank. It also said it was seeking additional funding.
Since the departure in December of its founder and former CEO Jason Goldberg, Jobster has assumed a low profile. Past funding rounds were accompanied by widely distributed press releases, entries on the company blog and interviews with the CEO. This announcement doesn’t even mention the name of the current CEO, Jeff Seely.