Oak Investment Partners Purchases $50 Million Stake in Digital Media Company
SAUSALITO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Federated Media Publishing
(FM) today announced that it has received a $50 million minority
investment from Oak Investment Partners, a multi-stage venture capital
firm based in Palo Alto, CA. Founded in 2005, FM represents more than
125 conversational media entrepreneurs who run more than 150 of the world’s
most respected websites, blogs, and social networking applications. The
company became profitable in the third quarter of 2007.
“Federated Media has a proven, profitable
business model with some of the industry’s
most knowledgeable people at the helm,” said
Fred Harman, general partner at Oak, who will be joining the FM board of
directors. “The company has shown clear
leadership in the emerging conversational media ecosystem. FM represents
some of the best publisher and advertiser content on the Web, and with
productive industry relationships, the company is poised to do amazing
things going forward.”
With expertise in custom, integrated conversational marketing campaigns,
FM has developed deep and long-term relationships with leading brand
marketers and advertising agencies. Over the last three years, the
company has expanded beyond its technology roots into verticals
including parenting, business & marketing, media & entertainment, video
gaming, graphics arts, automotive and more.
"We've been an early and avid supporter of Federated's model," said
Casey Jones, vice president of marketing at Dell. "We look forward to
continuing our work with the company as it expands its business."
FM’s full portfolio of digital media brands
includes web favorites such as Boing Boing, Ars Technica, Ask A Ninja,
Digg, Dooce, Confessions of a Pioneer Woman and NOTCOT, as well as
social networking applications including Graffiti Wall (in Facebook,
Hi5, MySpace and other social networks), Watercooler (in Facebook, Bebo
and others) and many more. FM is expanding its portfolio and has just
this year brought on diverse sites such as Silicon Alley Insider,
Destructoid and Buzzine. FM also manages sponsorship programs for a
roster of events such as the twice-annual Conversational Marketing
Summit and Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival.
“FM and Oak are a great match,”
said Chris Albinson, co-founder and managing director of Panorama
Capital, an early investor and board member at FM. “Oak
will add great value to FM’s board, and we
look forward to working with Fred and his team."
FM generates revenue for its partner sites and event organizers through
integrated sponsorships, advertising and other marketing services for
global brands and their advertising agencies. Recent examples of premium
brand-building programs include BMW's 1-Series drawing contest, which
invited Facebook members to custom paint BMW models using Graffiti's
digital illustrating tools, and the co-publishing and promotion
partnership with American Express around their OPEN Forum blog for small
business owners.
“We’re proud to
bring Oak on board as major investor,” said
John Battelle, founder and CEO of Federated Media. “The
Oak team understands the media business and has relationships within the
media and Internet industries that will benefit FM with insights from
Silicon Valley as well as Madison Avenue. Oak gets it, and we couldn’t
have picked a better partner.”
About Oak Investment Partners
Oak Investment Partners is a multi-stage venture capital firm with a
total of $8.4 billion in committed capital. The primary investment focus
is on high growth opportunities in Internet/new media, communications,
information technology, financial services information technology,
healthcare services and consumer retail. Over a 28-year history, Oak has
achieved a strong track record as a stage-independent investor funding
more than 450 companies at key points in their lifecycle. Oak has been
involved in the formation of companies, funded spinouts of operating
divisions and technology assets, and provided growth equity to mid- and
late-stage private businesses and to public companies through PIPE
investments.
About Federated Media
At FM, we believe great voices attract great audiences. We're in the
business of supporting those voices by connecting them to great
marketers, as well as providing a suite of services that let authors
focus on what they do best: make compelling media. In so doing, we are
creating federations of respected voices that prosper on their own
terms. Current federations include Sports, Technology, Automotive,
Business & Marketing, Media & Entertainment, Video Gaming, Graphics
Arts, News 2.0, Mobile, Lifestyle and Parenting. For more information,
please go to http://www.federatedmedia.net.
Product and service names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their
respective owners.