Business Insider, SAI's Parent, Closes Third Round; Funding Estimated At $5 Million
This story was written by David Kaplan.
Business Insider, the prodigiously productive business blog network, has closed a third round funding, co-founder, editor and CEO Henry Blodget (pictured, right) announced today. The amount was not disclosed, but several sources told paidContent it was in the $5 million range.
The blog network was started about a year and a half ago by Blodget, Kevin Ryan and Dwight Merriman as Silicon Alley Insider, which remains a channel, along with market news site Clusterstock and the eco-energy focused GreenSheet. The company recently abandoned the media and entertainment channel The Biz, which has had a more difficult time gaining traction against blogs like Nikke Finke's Deadline Hollywood and TheWrap. The company claims that the Business Insider network has 2.2 million monthly uniques and 8 million pageviews and counting.
With this funding, The Business Insider has added a number of high profile backers, including Allen & Company LLC, Marc Andreessen, Jim Friedlich of Zelnick Media, and Matt Luckett of Balestra Capital. Kohlberg & Company. Several previous investors also participated in the round, along with the founders. Past rounds included backing from digital ad vet and Tacoda founder Dave Morgan, Gordon Crovitz, former publisher of Wall Street Journal; and Ken Lerer, co-founder of HuffingtonPost.com, Roger Ehrenberg, and Kohlberg Ventures.
By David Kaplan