Pando Daily Denies It Burned Through All $4 Million of Its Funding
After "sources" told "recovering journalist" at ReadWriteWeb and Forbes Dan Lyons that the tech industry blog Pando Daily "burned thru 4m" on its way to "lights out," Pando Daily founder Sarah Lacy has categorically denied her site has financial woes. "We never even raised $4 million so that's obviously bullshit," she told the Atlantic Wire. Pando launched with $2.5 million in funding back in January of 2012 and they had a smaller round of funding in May of this year to bring it up to $3 million. So, yes, that part of Lyons's story is technically impossible.
Further, however, Lacy denies any financial problems at all. "We have plenty of money in the bank," she said, adding that both of their fundraising rounds have been oversubscribed. Lacy suggests that Lyons's sources are "probably from a figment of his imagination—like most of Dan Lyons's reporting." The two have had an on-going beef for years. Lyons has had a history of demonizing Lacy, she claims.
Another person chimed in, claiming that he too had "sources" claiming investors asked Lacy to leave and to give back the remaining $56,000. That, however, seems to be a joke relating to a controversial post from Pando Daily last week, which alleged that six sources told Pando Daily of that exact situation at Beachmint—only to have the Beachmint CEO deny it.
