That Was Fast: StumbleUpon’s New Owners Already Making Presence Felt

I used to use Web discovery tool Stumbleupon before it sold to eBay a couple of years ago for $75 million. After that I sort of stopped, assuming it would reemerge, looking or operating differently, once eBay did whatever it was planning to do with it.

Apparently, I wasn’t alone in dropping my usage. As TechCrunch points out today, after the acquisition, StumbleUpon’s traffic stagnated at roughly 1.5 million unique visitors per month. And little wonder. After eBay scooped it up, the company operated in a state of “suspended animation,” said investor David Hornik of August Capital to VentureWire this morning.

I have a feeling that’s going to change, quickly. Yesterday, it was announced that StumbleUpon has been bought back for an undisclosed amount by its original founders, Garrett Camp and Geoff Smith, as well as original investor Ram Shriram of Sherpalo Ventures and new investors Accel Partners and August Capital. And while many folks are scratching their heads over why they bothered — StumbleUpon’s original backers made a killing, having invested just $1.5 million in the company before eBay bought it — the team is already making moves to reacquaint people with the service.

So I gathered when, for the first time in possibly two years, I just received an email from the company, featuring “arts sites” recommended by “people like you” and a lengthy list of what the overall user base has indicated are the most popular sites on the service right now. The email also offers a way for me to see all my saved favorites (I had some?) and to find people I know on the service.

I’ve no idea what the email means or what the future holds for the company; it’s still way too early to speculate. Still, I have to say, it’s nice to see it back in action.

Now, if only I could remember my user name and log-in…