Trend Site Buzzfeed Raises $3.5 Million First Round
Buzzfeed, a NY-based trend-tracking site has raised a $3.5 million led by Hearst Interactive Media and Softbank, reports CNET. The site, which was co-founded in 2006 by HuffPo co-founder Jonah Peretti, combines elements of aggregators like Digg or Techmeme, but with a much more Gawker sensibility—it focuses heavily on the interests of bored-at-work internet users, looking for something gossipy or tawdry. It uses a combination of human editors, links and click data to determine what’s hot. In addition to being a consumer-focused site, the company also sells advertisers usable data on how their ads might fare, or what trends to glom onto. It claims 1 million monthly unique visitors.
Posted In: Money, M&A & Venture Capital, Venture Capital, buzzfeed, hearst interactive media, softbank
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