Enter the dragon: Meyer gives helping hand to WorldFriends

By Mark Leftly on Sunday, 12 July 2009
Julie Meyer, star of the online version of Dragons’ Den, is advising WorldFriends, the social network site that is a big hit in Asia, on its push into Europe.

Ariadne Capital, the investment and advisory firm run by Ms Meyer, is raising €1.5m to set up a London office for WorldFriends this autumn.

The UK team will look to secure distribution deals, such as partnerships with media sites. These sites would have a link to WorldFriends, which has 2m registered users in 237 countries. Ms Meyer is also raising a £20m fund called Ariadne Capital Entrepreneurs. The fund, which should be raised by early autumn, will seek to invest £500,000 to £1m in start-ups.