Online publishing platform Associated Content has closed a $6 million, Series C financing round funded by SoftBank Capital, Canaan Partners and AOL CEO Tim Armstrong. Associated Content secured $10 million in Series B Financing from SoftBank, Canaan, and Armstrong in 2007. The company also closed $5.4 million in Series A funding from SoftBank in 2006.
Founded by Luke Beatty and originally funded by Tim Armstrong in 2005, Associated Content operates a proprietary content publishing platform that enables individuals and media companies to publish content (text, video, audio etc.) on any topic. Associated Content says that it will use the new funds for consumer, platform, publisher, and advertiser growth. The company has an archive of more than one million pieces of content, and is expanding its network of 250,000 professional and amateur content contributors.
Here’s a video interview with Associated Content founder Beatty from Beet.TV:
15.4 MM. Let’s see how this one plays out.
15.4 MM that just as well could have been given to Lehman Brothers for the return this is going to promise…
Respectful criticism…. I prefer TC articles that explain the differentiation between recently funded companies and companies that already exist in the space. Reading this, I still don’t get a sense for what their competitive advantage or value proposition to consumers is.
Yes Brendan – blip on the content publishing platform screen. I suppose they were rushed to get something out. The firm should have provided the value prop & competitive advantage messaging. It’s missing here.
oh shit… GAME ON.
AC is great in my book. Publish alot of college essays that would’ve never been on the net otherwise, and make a few bucks every month from it.
Yes, that way it is remarkable. You can churn money if you know the tact. But I wonder along what lines AC is gonna improve. It has changed a lot from the startup it was. Now, with more people logging in and using it, it can maybe bring in chat/other activity.
Associated Content has a great platform – they use a large community to write ORIGINAL content, and automate the stuff that brings traffic (SEO) and revenue (advertising).
This is surely an advantage over companies which automate the creation of content.
Congratulations, and best of luck to AC!
That is one CREEPY looking guy.
What is with those glasses? Rebel without a cause much?
excellent excellent news, a big fan of AC myself
I think AC are douche bags but a seriously GG on their part. News 2.0 basically. But will the heads of AP be too old school (conservative) and try to keep the platform too similar to tradition print or will they jack ideas off of blogs and web 2.0 to create something extraordinary?
this is very impressive . You can earn money if you know the tact. But I wonder along what lines AC is gonna improve. It has changed a lot from the start up it was.
they blow $5 million a year; and we spent less than $250K and have a platform that allows anyone to publish and sell, change price, etc.
PLUS… when you buy something, the customer can give some of the profits to a friend, keep it, or tip the artist.
AND… we’re coming out with technology allowing people to sell the things they buy.
all in a social network.
jeez These people are stupid.
oh yeah, did i mention….we’re doing deals with, mmm….shhh….nah.
I like the idea, but ideally this won’t work. Why would a company want to use their content when you have no clue where the content is coming from? Is it a credible source or some blogger posting the story for some personal gain?
They aren’t even close to the AFP, AP or Reuters on the quality of the content.
Time to put a model together where they use established writers and compensate them based on article impressions or a percentage of the licensing fees.
How exactly is this different (or even in the same league) as About.com?
One way I noticed is the amount of crappy articles.
Agree w/ Randy’s assessment – crappy & awful content. Wasterful investment + dumb CEO.
There have been a number of changes made at Associated Content since the funding announcement, check them out:
http://www.exec...ss-Development/
Associated Content removes Dan Shanoff, VP of Content 2009-05-07 http://www.exec...com/c/rd/379/3/
Associated Content removes Lisa Harman Gooder, VP of Community Development 2009-09-05 http://www.exec...om/c/rd/379/11/