RockMelt Takes Big Funding From Andreessen, Accel and Khosla - Liz Gannes - Social - AllThingsD

The only scenario I can imagine that warrants a RockMelt $30M series B is speculation about Facebook acquiring RockMelt, a move I expect Google would applaud…

I think search continues to be very important,” Andreessen said. “Google had a billion uniques last month. But social is next.”

After search and social, Andreessen said, he envisions a half dozen more killer apps for the browser — basically, all the stuff we do online all day. Some examples might be daily deals and phone calls. “How much better could it be if that were built straight in?” Andreessen asked.

But back to RockMelt’s other challenges: What about the not-so-little issue of competition from other browsers? Khosla said in a separate interview, “When a browser changes from an information retrieval tool to a social media tool it’s probably some new company that’s going to figure it out… When shifts happen I sincerely believe start-ups are the best at entering the new market.”

RockMelt Takes Big Funding From Andreessen, Accel and Khosla - Liz Gannes - Social - AllThingsD