9gag.com Biography & Web Analysis

9GAG is a Hong Kong-based online platform and social media website that allows users to submit and share user-generated content as well as content from other social networking sites. Since its introduction on April 11, 2008, the platform for collecting Internet memes has risen in popularity across social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Ray Chan, his brother Chris Chan, Derek Chan, Marco Fung, and Brian Yu, all University of Hong Kong students, co-founded the website in 2008 with the goal of developing an alternative online platform to email where users could quickly share amusing photographs or videos. Ray Chan, the company's CEO, refused to explain the origins of the term "9GAG" in a 2012 interview.

9GAG's co-founders began utilizing 9GAG as a résumé builder for the 500 Startups accelerator program after starting the company with a "Just for Fun" philosophy. The 9GAG team worked on several startup concepts over the summer program, including StartupQuote and Songboard. After graduating from the 500 Startups accelerator program, 9GAG joined the Y Combinator incubator, where its user base grew to 70 million monthly unique visitors from all over the world. The 9GAG co-founding team put all other projects on hold and concentrated solely on 9GAG. For their assistance and coaching, 500 Startups was given stock.

9GAG received an additional US$2.8 million in funding from Silicon Valley venture capital firms True Ventures and Greycroft Partners in July 2012. 9GAG secured an additional US$2.8 million in funding in August 2012 from Silicon Valley venture capital firms True Ventures and Greycroft Partners, as well as individual investors Christopher Sacca, Kevin Rose, and Naval Ravikant. This money enabled 9GAG to expand its engineering team in both Hong Kong and Silicon Valley. 9GAG is based in Hong Kong's Tsuen Wan district, with offices in Mountain View, California.