Livefyre secures $4.5M round to become the ultimate commenting tool

Commenting platform Livefyre has raised a new $4.5 million round of funding, the company announced today.

Livefyre is a social commenting tool for publishers that turns commenting into a live conversation. It also adds support for push notifications and integration with many social networks. Over 14,000 websites are using Livefyre, including The Sun, Sugar Media, The Next Web and MIT Tech Review.

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The company said it plans to use the new funding to hire additional engineers and salespeople as well as expand its products.

The new round comes on the heels of an upgrade of Livefyre’s platform, which includes a new set of social features called SocialSync. Much like competitor Disqus, the new SocialSync features allow commenters to share directly with friends on Facebook and Twitter and invite them to join in the discussion. Publishers can also add relevant comments from those social networks.

Founded in December 2009, the San Francisco-based startup has 28 employees. The new round was led by Greycroft, with participation from Cue Ball, HillsVen Groupe and ff Venture Capital. Livefyre has raised a total of $5.3 million to date.