The technology heavyweights behind Bebo and Lastminute.com have invested in a project aimed at making it easier to access social networking site Twitter.

Brent Hoberman, who co-founded Lastminute and Bebo founder Michael Birch are among a team of investors who together have pumped £1.2 million into TweetDeck.

TweetDeck was founded by former computer developer Iain Dodsworth last year and it is now thought that around 10 per cent to 15 per cent of all tweets – messages sent on the Twitter website – are sent via the application.

The application now works with Facebook and he is hoping to extend it to cover other popular sites.

Twitter has quickly become one of the best-known names on the internet, with users posting messages of no longer than 140 characters from mobile phones or the web.

The site is used by celebrities such as Stephen Fry and has added to news reporting, with tweets sent by witnesses of the Mumbai terrorist attacks and election protesters in Iran.

Mr Hoberman and Mr Birch made their TweetDeck investment through PROfounders Capital, a new fund designed to be a way for entrepreneurs to invest in young businesses.

Other members include Peter Dubens, the businessman behind broadband firm Pipex.

Sean Seton-Rogers, general partner of PROfounders, said: “A lot of funds are focused on making sure that the companies they have already invested in survive, they are internally focused, but we are ready to build this legacy.”

It is understood that the fund has raised around £20 million and aims to have a £50 million pot by Christmas.

Mr Dodsworth launched TweetDeck after becoming frustrated when he missed messages from friends on the Twitter site.

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