News

Say Media raises $27m in funding round

Say Media has secured $27m of funding to help the company develop its publishing platform, grow its media property portfolio and fund strategic acquisitions.

The funding came from new investors including New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Shea Ventures and Correlation Ventures as well as existing investors. NEA’s Paul Hsiao will join Say Media’s board of directors following the funding round.

Hsiao has also been responsible for leading investments in other successful technology companies including cloud note-sharing service Evernote and cloud gaming platform Gaikai, which was recently acquired by Sony Computer Entertainment. NEA has also invested in companies including Groupon, Salesforce and Millenial Media.

Say Media has launched an aggressive expansion plan and completed several acquisitions over the last year including ReadWriteWeb and Remodelista. It has also expanded its executive leadership team and earlier this week announced that it had named Time Magazine publisher Kim Kelleher as its new president, effective from September.

“The intersection of Madison Avenue and Silicon Valley is really where we see the future of media and we are well-positioned to lead the publishing industry into a digital world," says Say Media chief executive Matt Sanchez. “This funding round is a validation of our strategy.”

The new group of investors join existing investors August Capital, First Round Capital, Maveron, Focus Ventures, Neoteny and holding group WPP.

Say Media’s digital publishing brands have a reach of approximately 400 million people around the world and cover areas including Style, Living, Food and technology.

David Hing, London