Perfect Market, a startup aiming to help newspapers make more money from their articles, just raised $9 million in new funding.
The Pasadena, Calif. startup works with publishers to optimize their content for search engines, delivering a customized (usually stripped-down) version of an article page for users visiting from search engines, with advertising targeted at that particular audience. It also offers data to publishers about what articles could earn the most money. Customers include the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, and the Orlando Sentinel.
The new round brings Perfect Marketa4‚¬a4„s total funding to $28 million and was led by Comcast Interactive Capital. Chief executive Julie Schonfeld said that just as The Tribune Companya4‚¬a4„s earlier investment helped Perfect Market build connections with the newspaper world, Comcasta4‚¬a4„s backing should help the company expand into a4‚¬Athe bigger media space.a4‚¬¯
The money will also allow Perfect Market to build out the product to match what Schonfeld said is an expanding vision. Ita4‚¬a4„s no longer just about optimizing older articles for search engines, she said, but rather building tools for a4‚¬Aadaptive publishing,a4‚¬¯ where the reading experience is customized for whatever way readers are consuming your content.
a4‚¬ASearch was one instance, social is another instance,a4‚¬¯ she said. a4‚¬AWea4‚¬a4„ve come to the conclusion that you cana4‚¬a4„t just be thinking about your home page and your section fronts anymore.a4‚¬¯
Previous backers Tribune, Rustic Canyon Partners, Trinity Ventures, and Idealab (the incubator that Perfect Market spun out of) also invested in the new round.
[image via Flickr/Alex Barth]
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Companies: Comcast Interactive Capital, Idealab, Perfect Market, Rustic Canyon Partners, The Tribune Company, Trinity Ventures
People: Julie Schonfeld
Companies: Comcast Interactive Capital, Idealab, Perfect Market, Rustic Canyon Partners, The Tribune Company, Trinity Ventures
People: Julie Schonfeld
Anthony is a senior editor at VentureBeat, as well as its reporter on media, advertising, and social networks. Before joining the site in 2008, Anthony worked at the Hollister Free Lance, where he won awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for breaking news coverage and writing. He attended Stanford University and now lives in San Francisco. Reach him at anthony@venturebeat.com. (All story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com) You can also follow Anthony on Twitter.
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