Twitter started as a way to let a whole bunch of people know what you were doing with one text message. It was first used internally in the office of its parent company, Obvious. Over time we’ve seen it transform into a completely separate company and a scarily handy communication tool.

When Twitter branched off from Obvious LLC in 2007, the company raised $5 million from Union Square Ventures and Charles River Ventures. According to Gigaom, the company has managed to secure itself $15 million in second round funning. This tidy sum is partnered with another pretty penny: a pre-money valuation of $80 millon.

As of late the site has been experiencing some problems. In fact, one of our editors tried to set up an account the other day only to discover the website was down, however it was a short-lived problem with the site back up and running a few hours later.

While this is not always the case, the longer blackouts remind us that the company is still new and it does take a while to get the ducks in line, which is probably why VCs are all so interested. Because it doesn’t take a genius to realise that underneath the problems, there’s a genuinely good idea and serious business potential for what is fast becoming a successful company.

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Gigaom