The start-up news organization will use the money to expand both within and outside of Minnesota.
The Dolan Company and PR firm Padilla Speer Beardsley have together invested $1 million in BringMeTheNews—a start-up that aggregates news from throughout Minnesota and distributes it via online, social media, and radio outlets.
BringMeTheNews, founded in September 2009 by former KARE-11 news anchor Rick Kupchella, said Monday that it will use the investment to grow the organization.
“We expect to use this investment to expand beyond Minnesota as well as broaden the content we offer to other categories,” Kupchella said in a statement.
The organization will launch a sports division later this month and plans to look for ways to grow its footprint within the state.
James P. Dolan, CEO of Minneapolis-based The Dolan Company, said that he was attracted to BringMeTheNews because of Kupchella’s entrepreneurial zeal and the company’s innovative business model, adding that the organization is “a very real multimedia business that grew to impressive size less than a year after launch.”
Lynn Casey, CEO of Padilla Speer Beardsley, said the organization seemed like a good investment opportunity to her because it provides a new way to deliver news content to consumers.
“We have a lot of respect for the model, which showcases reporting from respected sources, credits and links the reader back to those sources, and relies on sponsored content instead of traditional advertising to generate revenues,” Casey said in a statement. “All that fits within Padilla's mission of helping organizations communicate with the people who are important to their success.”
As part of investments made by The Dolan Company and Padilla Speer Beardsley, both based in Minneapolis, Dolan and Casey will join the board of BringMeTheNews.
The Dolan Company publishes business journals, offers court and commercial media products and services, operates Web sites for targeted legal audiences in 21 U.S. markets, and provides specialized outsourced services to the legal profession. It is among Minnesota’s largest public companies based on revenue, which totaled $262.9 million in 2009.
Padilla Speer Beardsley, founded in 1961, is Minnesota’s second-largest PR firm based on annual net fee income, which exceeds $15 million annually. Clients include Cub Foods, Ernst & Young, General Mills, HB Fuller, Pentair, Rockwell Automation, and United Healthcare.
—Christa Meland
(cmeland@tcbmag.com)