June 26, 2007

Sugar Publishing Raises New Round; Partners With NBC Universal

Michael Arrington

27 comments »

Sugar Publishing, the company behind the hugely successful Team Sugar and ten or so other blogs aimed at the female demographic, will announce a new round of financing tomorrow. They are not disclosing the size of the round, but it is being led by NBC Universal, with participation from previous investor Sequioia Capital. They previously raised $5 million, on a rumored $12-15 million pre-money valuation.

The deal also includes distribution through NBC’s massive ivilliage property (800 million monthly page views), and an exclusive advertising deal with NBC.

Sugar Publishing continues to grow at a torrent pace. They claim 4.5 million monthly unique visitors and 40 million page views (see earlier numbers here). CEO Brian Sugar says they will continue to launch new blogs over the summer, including CasaSugar (home), LilSugar (babies), CitizenSugar (politics), PetSugar (pets) and SavvySugar (career & finance).

This is a wonderful success story - we started tracking this company last August and they continue to do very, very well.

Sphere It

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Allen

June 26th, 2007 at 10:57 pm

Thats a whole lot of sugar (and a whole lot of dough!). Distribution on ivillage will definitely get even more traffic to the site. I worked briefly at NBC Universal and am very confident in what the organization has to offer.

Allen, CEO
Famesource.com - Claim your fame!
http://www.famesource.com
Steve S

June 26th, 2007 at 11:16 pm

What a fantastic success for a fantastic set of blogs, I wish them the best with this new round. I am sure they will use it well.
Drama 2.0

June 26th, 2007 at 11:28 pm

Nice. Although I’ve questioned the amount of funding they’ve raised and they way they’ve raised it, as per my previous comments on Michael’s posts about Sugar Publishing, I’ve felt they have a good shot at success. I think that startups involved in the production of quality content are much more appealing than those relying solely on a sea of user-generated content, and Sugar Publishing is producing good content for key demographics.
Marshall Kirkpatrick

June 26th, 2007 at 11:32 pm

Don’t forget http://geeksugar.com - aimed at female geeks. Go team Sugar!
Rachel

June 26th, 2007 at 11:38 pm

What is so appealing about this growing “empire” iis that it appeals to everyone, no matter what your interests are. It’s transformed so much since 2004 when I first discovered the website. And it’s a model example of Web 2.0.
Angelo

June 27th, 2007 at 12:02 am

best news from the best blog, thanks

http://www.adivorblog.com
willy

June 27th, 2007 at 12:11 am

good news
Versuri32

June 27th, 2007 at 3:14 am

Sequoia Invests in Blog Network Sugar Publishing — Blog network Sugar Publishing (the most popular blog in the network is PopSugar) has raised “around $5
Versuri Lopoartdo - http://www.versuri32.com/versuri/q.php
Tyler Wright

June 27th, 2007 at 5:16 am

‘Hugely successful’ is a bit of a stretch Michael. teamsugar’s avg Alexa rank is 6000 and LOTS of Soc. Networks are killing it.
Tyler Wright

June 27th, 2007 at 5:17 am

When does something become ‘hugely successful’ in the eyes of TechCrunch? Just curious.
mike

June 27th, 2007 at 5:42 am

Love the sugars! Congrats! Great news for a great company with a great vision, & a great network of great content rich sites. Great!
Kieran

June 27th, 2007 at 6:30 am

The funding is great but the real value comes from the distribution deal with iVillage. That is the money audience for team sugar.

Kieran
http://www.webtribution.com
Shawn

June 27th, 2007 at 6:35 am

Good for Sugar! That is a tough demographic to target and they seem to be doing it with ease. I look forward to hearing more about them in the future.
Lally R

June 27th, 2007 at 6:52 am

I’m a big Sugar fan so congrats to them!
patricia

June 27th, 2007 at 7:01 am

I like the Sugars too. Very cool
Concrete Stain

June 27th, 2007 at 7:24 am

- Great to see funding - RB
Rebecca

June 27th, 2007 at 7:28 am

never heard of ‘em and the CEO is a dude?
John Smithering

June 27th, 2007 at 9:45 am

wow, these blogs are lame. How about some New York or L.A. style or any edge?

Outside of PopSugar the traffic for the rest of their blogs are flatter than a pre-teen girl. Alexa and Compete also show that PopSugar’s growth is basically flat too. Can you please correct your post to reflect this fact.
rabble

June 27th, 2007 at 10:26 am

That logo sure looks a LOT like the old Odeo logo.
Simon

June 27th, 2007 at 11:31 am

Why is new funding seen as a success ? - is it because it demonstrates the company has the full confidence of those providing the money?
Debbie Davies

June 27th, 2007 at 12:06 pm

A Sugar press release: ‘Sugar Publishing Inc. today announced the launch of BellaSugar.com, the Sugar Network’s tenth site geared toward topics of interest for women. Sponsored by Sephora, the world’s leading beauty retail store, the launch will provide beauty junkies everywhere with a destination to learn about the newest products and trends.’

Sorry, but when has any sponsored blog had great content? Guys, if Techcrunch was sponsored by Microsoft, would it have great content? (Of course, if it was sponsored by Microsoft it would never have got to be this good). To me a sponsored blog is paid content, advertorial, pay per post, it’s weaker than MSM. I hope those saying Sugar has good content aren’t being condescending (like Apple giving four men iPhones to review grrrr).

When Sugar claims its blogs are ‘insanely addictive’ I think the business is struggling; stalled by the combined popularity of social networks, video and plain, unstoppable splogs is my guess.

I’m the target demographic. I just had a quick look at Popsugar. My first thought was untrustworthy, Popsugar watermarks on agency photos. I don’t trust people who put their watermark on agency photos. If you do this it’s never been a ‘hobby’ and you’re not committed to creating a ‘just plain fun online community for women.’ As for the stats suggesting real social action, I’d like to know exactly how they’re made up.

Sugar content will wash in with ivillage content, which is already awash with more than any woman I know has time for. Meanwhile, advertising is finite, spread thinner and thinner.
conflicted

June 27th, 2007 at 3:33 pm

Michael-do you like Sugar Publishing since you own stock in it?
sofai

June 27th, 2007 at 7:30 pm

very good!
Rockwell

June 27th, 2007 at 7:31 pm

Why does Sugar Publishing smell like a gigantic scam to me?
eudora

June 27th, 2007 at 7:38 pm

i also think That logo sure looks a LOT like the old Odeo logo.
annoyed

June 27th, 2007 at 8:21 pm

I find the entire project offensive. It supposed to appeal to women but clearly not women who are interested in something outside the ‘Cosmo’ experience. I suppose the lesson is that pandering to the lowest common denominator will get your company funded.