Our Story
From a network of highly connected entrepreneurs in the heart of Paris sprang a concept to utilise the power of the internet and the power of networking to connect professionals on a local level but with a global reach.
From that initial network in France in 2004 and with a team of 20 people Viadeo expanded its European business opening operations in the UK, Italy and Spain in 2007. Integrating local knowledge and technologies Viadeo expanded into China with the acquisition of Tianji, into India with the acquisition of ApnaCircle and into South America with the acquisition of UNYK.
Continued organic growth coupled with an emerging markets acquisition strategy has taken Viadeo to a global number two position with local leadership in France and China.
Viadeo now has 12 global offices, 400 staff and a membership base of 50 million spanning 226 countries.
Viadeo was founded by Dan Serfaty and Thierry Lunati in 2004 as a way to continue offline networking between networking meet-ups. The network has grown through a combination of natural growth and acquisition. The Viadeo brand is represented globally except on the Indian sub-continent and China.
ApnaCircle was founded by Yogesh Bansal in December 2006. Sabeer Bhatia, one of the co-founders of Hotmail, joined the Board of Directors in August 2007. ApnaCircle became part of the Viadeo Group in 2009.
Tianji was founded by Derek Ling in 2005 and joined the Viadeo Group in 2007. The Chinese characters “Tianji” literally mean heaven and connections, and can be generally translated to mean “worldly connections”. Tianji is the number 1 professional social network in China.
