Glam Raises $10 Million Fifth Round For German, Japan Expansions
This story was written by David Kaplan.
Glam Media has raised a $10 million fifth round from investors related to its Japanese and German units, paidContent has learned. The Japanese funding comes from Mizuho Venture Capital. The VC arm of the Japanese bank was joined by ad agencies Dentsu and WPP Group-backed ADK; magazine publishers Shogagukan and Syueisya; and print publisher NikkeiBP. Separately, Hubert Burda Media has made an investment in its joint venture with Glam Media in Germany. The company did not break out the individual amounts or say how the proceeds will be split between its German and Japan operations.
Japan JV formed: Glam Media Japan KK opened five months ago and is headed by CEO Yukihiro Yamamura, formerly CEO of DoubleClick Japan and Excite Japan. The investment with the five Japanese ad and media companies is designed to help Glam strengthen ties with marketers there, while drawing more content from established print publishers. So far, Glam's Japanese network claims an average of million monthly uniques. More after the jump.
Building mode continues: Over the past year, Glam has aggressively moved to ramp up internationally and has also expanded the purview of its blog networks. While still heavily focused on women's entertainment and lifestyle sites, it has created a male version with Brash.com. It also established a version of its ad net aimed an African-American audience last September called Glam Black Life.
International focus: And while the company lost two high profile execs last month Scott Schiller, EVP-global marketing, left for Comcast Interactive Media and then John Trimble, EVP-sales, exited to join Pandora as chief revenue officersources note that Glam still expects to end 2009 with 40 more staffers than it had last year.
It has certainly tried to make the most of the $84.6 million in funding it closed in February 2008. Glam quickly set about buying UK online ad sales rep firm Monetise and then acquired German digital marketing firm Codex Media. In all, this latest $10 million funding means Glam has raised a total $124.2 million to date. Between its ability to attract continued funding and content partners, Glam believes it will continue maintain its global build-out, despite the additional pressures placed on display advertising. In the meantime, Glam has been able to benefit from the struggles of its more established online rivals, like *AOL*, *Yahoo* and iVillage. And the difficulties of traditional publishers have made Glam's networks more attractive to both advertisers and potential partners as it looks to form more verticals and expand its international hold.
By David Kaplan