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CNW Group, Thursday, October 5th, 2006.
TORONTO, ONT, October 4, 2006 – b5media Inc. (“b5media”), a global new media network, has raised US$2-million of equity financing in a transaction co-led by Brightspark Ventures and JLA Ventures. The funding will strengthen the company's network of bloggers to create greater value for readers and advertisers.
“There are tremendous growth opportunities and we plan to expand strategically to appeal to a broad market,” said Jeremy Wright, president and chief executive officer.
“We are working in a fantastic industry. In the year since we launched, we have made major progress attracting readers to our high-quality content, which is produced by an engaged and excited group of bloggers. The extra resources now available to us will only increase these areas as key strengths of b5media going forward.”
b5media is a new media network targeting the mainstream via vertical-specific content. The Toronto-based company will use the funding to increase the depth of the content in its existing vertical, launch properties in new verticals, and increase distribution channels to get the right content to the right people at the right time.
“Today, people from around the world are enjoying amazing material created by writers from around the globe,” said Rick Segal, Partner at JLA Ventures. B5 is doing a terrific job of creating a growing, profitable and long term business that we are delighted to be participating in with our partners at Brightspark.
“b5media is clearly establishing itself as a leading media network. The company has built great momentum in a very short period of time with a strong founding team and vision,” said Mark Skapinker, Managing Partner at Brightspark.
About b5media Inc.
b5media (www.b5media.com) is a global new media network featuring more than 150 blogs on a wide variety of subjects ranging from entertainment and news to technology and sports. With content written by passionate people from all over the world and visited by more than two million unique visitors a month, b5 is among the world's largest online new media networks. b5 is based in Toronto.
About JLA Ventures
JLA Ventures, a private venture capital firm, is a leading investor in technology companies at all stages of growth.The firm has offices in Toronto, Ontario and Montreal, Quebec. JLA Ventures' past and current portfolio companies include: Triple G Systems (acquired by General Electric), Pixstream (acquired by Cisco), Basis100 (acquired by First American Corporation), Fun Technologies (acquired by Liberty Media Corporation), Servicesoft Technologies (acquired by Broadbase), Isolation Systems (acquired by Shiva), Descartes Systems Group (NASDAQ:DSGX), Bioscrypt (TSX:BYT), Q9 Networks (TSX:Q), VFM, Quickplay Media, MusicIP, HealthUnity, and Planeteye. For more information please visit www.jlaventures.com.
About Brightspark Ventures
Brightspark Ventures (www.brightspark.com) is a leading early-stage venture fund. Brightspark works closely with entrepreneurs to develop and build market-leading software companies. With offices in Toronto and Montreal, Brightspark is backed by leading institutional investors who share its approach to early-stage software investing. |
