Pulse raises $US9 million funding

Pulse, the RSS reader that was profiled by Apple during one of its developer events, has finalised a $US9 million round of funding.

“More than the money, it was the opportunity to work with three terrific firms that are all complementary,” Pulse co-founder Akshay Kothari told Mashable. “Alan [Patricof] and Ken [Lerer] were part of the original team who financed the Huffington Post, and we look forward to leveraging the insight they gained from building a new paradigm in news.”

The app has also reached four million users, up from just 200,000 in November 2010. New Enterprise Associates, Greyloft Partners and Lerer Ventures are the three companies involved in the funding.

The Pulse app differs from others on the App Store due to its social and visual design. Each RSS entry is accompanied by a photo, with users able to scroll different graphics from the main page of the app.

The app was originally formed as a class project between friends at Stanford University.