From time to time, I have shared with you the steps we’re taking to build Giga Omni Media, the 27-month-old company behind this and the other publications that make up the GigaOM network. Today, I am thrilled to announce the start of our company’s next phase.
We have just raised $4.5 million, led by new investor Alloy Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm with over $1 billion under management. True Ventures, our primary investors thus far, also participated in the round. The round was blessed by our angel investors, Rakesh Mathur, Venky Harinarayan and Anand Rajaraman as well. As part of the funding, Alloy Ventures general partner Ammar Hanafi will join the Giga Omni Media board.
We are going to use this new investment prudently, to enhance our technology platform and content offerings, add to our current portfolio of publications and expand our Events and Briefings businesses. We are in investing for the long-term — in ourselves.
I got to know Ammar when he was heading up corporate business development at Cisco Systems (read: V-P of the merger & acquisitions business.) As part of my job as a telecom reporter for Red Herring, I would hound him for information, often when there was none to be had. We stayed in touch periodically as our careers progressed before eventually losing touch.
Then earlier this summer, we reconnected through CEO Paul Walborsky. Our conversation quickly turned once again to my quest for clear and accurate information, but this time in relation to how I had made it the core quality around which our online media company was built. Soon we were discussing the possibility of Alloy becoming an investor.
The shift of audiences and ad dollars to online media from more traditional mediums has been significant on many levels, not least of which has been how it’s created opportunities for new models such as ours. What hasn’t changed is a desire on the part of business and technology audiences for in-depth, insightful coverage, which is what we are committed to providing.
Macro trends of our industry aside, the reason Alloy Ventures and True Ventures invested in our company is because there are lots of little things that need to happen before crazy ideas become a living, growing business. Sure we didn’t have an auspicious start to 2008, but we together overcame that little hiccup and my team has achieved a huge amount this year, among them:
- We are now providing content to a number of prominent media sites, including CNNMoney.com, Businessweek.com and NYTimes.com.
- We hosted two sold-out conferences, Structure and Mobilize. (And we are getting ready for NewTeeVee Live for 2008.)
- We acquired jkOntheRun.
- We acquired TheAppleBlog.
- We appointed Paul Walborsky CEO of the company.
- We named Carolyn Pritchard as the managing editor of our network. Our network now has seven sites: GigaOM, WebWorkerDaily, NewTeeVee, OStatic, Earth2Tech, jkOnTheRun and TheAppleBlog.
- We have doubled the number of visitors to our sites. We launched two experiments –- NewTeeVee Station and GigaOM Daily.
As the company grows, I try to reflect on the job done so far and the road ahead. We have come so far on so little, mostly by being frugal and having a realist’s view of the world. The whiplash-inducing bad winds that are plaguing the overall economy will cast a pall on Silicon Valley in general and online media as well. So it’s nice to have the ability to grow even in the face of adversity, whether organically or through acquisitions. Before I go back to work, please join me in welcoming Ammar to our family.
More importantly, dear readers, please accept my extreme gratitude for your support — through good times and bad times, for without you it would not have been possible. Thank you.
24 trackbacks so far
7:00 AM PT
[...] Malik’s GigaOm has raised another round of financing - $4.5 million - bringing the total amount the blog network [...]
7:26 AM PT
[...] Malik’s GigaOm has raised another round of financing - $4.5 million - bringing the total amount the blog network [...]
7:30 AM PT
[...] Om Malik’s GigaOm has raised another round of financing - $4.5 million - bringing the total amount the blog network [...]
7:30 AM PT
[...] Om Malik’s GigaOm has raised another round of financing - $4.5 million - bringing the total amount the blog network [...]
7:31 AM PT
[...] Om Malik’s GigaOm has raised another round of financing - $4.5 million - bringing the total amount the blog network [...]
7:43 AM PT
[...] Malik’s GigaOm has raised another round of financing - $4.5 million - bringing the total amount the blog network [...]
7:48 AM PT
[...] Thord Daniel Hedengren Giga Omni Media has secured another $4.5 million in funding, bringing the total to $5.3 million according to Michael Arrington, who disagrees with the decision [...]
8:39 AM PT
[...] has been how it’s created opportunities for new models such as ours,” founder Om Malik wrote in a blog post announcing the funding. “What hasn’t changed is a desire on the part of business and technology audiences for [...]
8:59 AM PT
[...] Giga Omni Media, an online publishing company behind the GigaOm blog network, has raised $4.5 million in new VC funding. Alloy Ventures led the round, and was joined by return backers True Ventures, Rakesh Mathur, Venky Harinarayan and Anand Rajarama. Read more… [...]
9:25 AM PT
[...] オム・マリックの「GigaOm」が$4.5M（450万ドル）の追加融資を受け、同ブログネットワークの資本調達は総額$5.3M（530万ドル）となった。今ラウンドはAlloy Venturesがリード。前回の投資主True Venturesも出資に加わった。 [...]
9:53 AM PT
[...] [via Giga Om] [...]
11:01 AM PT
[...] Malik sigue haciendo crecer su pequeño multimedios digital y acaba de cerrar una nueva ronda de inversión, esta vez por u$s4.5 millones con Alloy Ventures y True Ventures y sigue la tendencia que comenzó hace un par de [...]
11:21 AM PT
[...] curioso el mensaje que le manda Michael Arrington a su colega Om Malik: felicidades por la nueva inyección de capital pero si las cosas salen mal recuerda que yo te [...]
11:49 AM PT
[...] Omni Media, the company that owns news blog GigaOM and its related sites, announced today that it has raised $4.5 million in additional [...]
11:51 AM PT
[...] part of his professed attempt to pull back from the daily grind at the blog media company. The company says it will use the money to “enhance our technology platform and content offerings, add to our current [...]
1:40 PM PT
[...] Malik’s GigaOm has raised another round of financing - $4.5 million - bringing the total amount the blog network [...]
2:47 PM PT
[...] Omni Media, the Om Malik run vehicle behind sites including GigaOm and the excellent NewTeeVee, has taken $4.5 million Series C in a round led by Alloy Ventures that included previous investors True [...]
2:57 PM PT
[...] has been how it’s created opportunities for new models such as ours,” founder Om Malik wrote in a blog post announcing the funding. “What hasn’t changed is a desire on the part of business and technology audiences for [...]
6:51 PM PT
[...] lead investor in the $4.5 million round of funding is Alloy Ventures. True Ventures also participated in this round of funding. Angel [...]
2:30 AM PT
[...] other popular sites has secured $4.5 million in new funding–Giga Omni Media founder Om Malik announced the investment Monday, garnering plenty of congrats, including a kudos from Google’s Matt [...]
5:32 AM PT
[...] has been how it’s created opportunities for new models such as ours,” founder Om Malik wrote in a blog post announcing the funding. “What hasn’t changed is a desire on the part of business and technology audiences for [...]
3:25 PM PT
[...] Congrats to Om Malik for getting ready for the nuclear winter. [...]
6:34 PM PT
[...] several links recommended by friends, fans and followers. We left a couple of comments here and there (backtype helps to refresh my memory). We shouted out other’s Tweets to share the sharable. [...]
9:20 PM PT
[...] Omni Media, the company that owns news blog GigaOM and its related sites, announced today that it has raised $4.5 million in additional [...]
73 comments so far
7:04 AM PT
Exciting news! Congratulations to you and welcome Ammar!
7:06 AM PT
Congrats OM…!
7:07 AM PT
Over the moon at this great news Om
Well done buddy
See you in Paris, hopefully?
7:07 AM PT
Hey Buddy,
I am very excited for you. Congratulations!
-Adam
7:09 AM PT
Congrats Om.
7:11 AM PT
Congratulations to you .. This a good news in a bad time :-)
7:14 AM PT
Congrats, Om! Well done, indeed.
7:16 AM PT
@all thanks guys. what it means, we will be serving you better for a long time. @Pat, yes you will see me there.
7:16 AM PT
Congratulations to you and the rest of the team Om. First i’ve heard of Alloy.
7:17 AM PT
Congrats OM! After all your hard work and personal trials - you seemed to have pulled ahead in better form - for better times yet to come. Good for you, the GigaOM crew - and your family. Well deserved.
Regards,
7:19 AM PT
Just a thought, does this mean that the GigaOm show will get that new set you had mentioned on the last show? ;)
7:25 AM PT
Many congrats, Om! Kudos to you and your team for attracting the investment and I look forward to seeing your continued growth and evolution.
Best wishes,
Dan
7:30 AM PT
Congratulations, Om. Can’t wait to see what you have in store for us!
7:41 AM PT
Congratulations. Ammar is a great guy. This is a wonderful match.
7:46 AM PT
This is great news. Congrats.
7:53 AM PT
Congrats.
Now can we get some real writers for the weekend edition?
I’m not so much interested in PR releases. So maybe you take a step back on Thursdays or what ever it takes, and write a _long_ reflection on where peaces fit together and where they fall apart. Not the obvious ones, but something I will have problems seeing myself.
Not that I want to outsource my thinking, just want to delegate some of it :-).
And it just happens that you seem to be the right person.
8:05 AM PT
wonderful news - perhaps, somewhere in your ‘free time’ for dev staff you’ll create a killer blackberry app or at least a killer non-iphone mobile interface…check out polarmobile - they just did the new bb app for thestreet.com and it’s awesome…
8:07 AM PT
Congratulations to Om and the team. Great to see new media attracting funds in this most difficult of climates.
8:08 AM PT
Congrats OM
8:16 AM PT
Om, congratulations. Well I should say, welcome to the family :-). Looking forward to seeing you grow and execute on your vision.
8:21 AM PT
Excellent news — congratulations to you — you’re the silver lining of the doom and gloom cloud.
8:29 AM PT
Congrats Om, great news and a timely close given how ugly things are out there. Catch up soon :).
8:29 AM PT
congrats Om, again!
8:40 AM PT
congrats to om and team, great work! keep the quality coming :)
8:41 AM PT
Congrats Om & team! So nice to hear good news for once.
8:46 AM PT
Congrats! That’s great news..
8:50 AM PT
Congratulations, well done - specially these days ;-)
8:57 AM PT
Congrats guys
9:05 AM PT
Congrats OM. Well done - mostly in those difficult times.
9:16 AM PT
Congrats Om for the funding especially in these tough times. By the way when are we seeing an India centric blog from your network:)
9:25 AM PT
congrats Om & agree with Jeff: excellent timing ;)
best of luck with all future projects,
9:26 AM PT
Congrats Om, Paul and team. Your comment about having a realistic view of the world I’m sure will help continue to successfully guide your growing company. - Jeff
9:32 AM PT
@ all your response and your kind words move me no end. thank you for sharing this moment with us. I appreciate it.
@ Dave McClure… you were there day one!
9:34 AM PT
@Karl Brightman … i think you will see something relatively soon. I am meeting with Revision 3 next week and we shall be resuming work soon. As you might have guessed we had more pressing things weighing down on us.
@ronald Point well taken and well I am going to start that thinking process and do more reflection pieces. of course, you and others could send some suggestions so we know what you are looking for. also are you talking about outsourcing your thinking to me because I am Indian. ;-) . Just joking. Your feedback is extremely valuable and I deeply appreciate it.
9:37 AM PT
Om, Congratulations!! While print media is struggling and the economy is in a tailspin, you are building a great company. Outstanding!!
Don Dodge
9:41 AM PT
Congratulations Om and Co.
9:42 AM PT
Congratulations, Om — Could be that the ‘health event’ facilitated your being more strategic, which is what leaders need to spend time on. All good moves . . . and building in the down times has the greatest chance to succeed. Well played.
9:48 AM PT
Congratulations. I’ve enjoyed following all of the great content on the network since the start. Keep it coming!
10:08 AM PT
Awesome news, Om. Keep fighting the good fight.
10:08 AM PT
Congratulations Om, it’s an even greater achievement in the current weather - keep up the good work!
10:50 AM PT
No wonder you’ve been so busy Om ;) Congrats!
That list of accomplishments is pretty awesome. Baller!
10:52 AM PT
Good for you. This is a testament to your hard work. Congrats and the best of luck.
11:05 AM PT
@OM,
That didn’t even cross my mind, you being Indian and all. There you have it, need to have different views on things.
As for stories, well I’m working on some math which would require some really heavy investigation from a Journalist to work out how right I am, or wrong. But I guarantee you if I’m right we haven’t seen anything in tech yet.
If you are interested, let me know and we can talk. I was going to talk to you anyway, after I have a working prototype. Since I was expecting you to give it straight to me on mistakes I made. But if you want to kick my b.. before that, let’s talk. You can always back off, in which case I can prove you wrong :-).
11:18 AM PT
Yeah! Nicely done! Congrats Om, Paul and the rest of the GigaOM family!
11:29 AM PT
✿ Congratulations Om ✿
11:50 AM PT
Congrats Om from all your old friends here at the Squad.
11:51 AM PT
an old digital saying: “in times of upcoming crisis, the wise man raises lots of cash”. well done buddy!
11:52 AM PT
Om,
At least throw a party or something so we can get drunk…er, I mean celebrate with you. Cheers.
12:30 PM PT
Well done OM, Credit crunch, not @ gigaom
congrats
12:50 PM PT
Congrats!!
12:51 PM PT
Congrats Om, this is the result of a great job.
1:07 PM PT
Congratulations - good move to take cash while it’s available. Looking forward to seeing how you spend it.
1:18 PM PT
Om, congrats for landing the financing and also for getting another great addition (Ammar) to the GigaOm family. Nice!
1:20 PM PT
@dave, try this out on your Blackberry and let us know what you think (link) .
Should work happily on Windows Mobile and the iPhone too.
1:31 PM PT
Congratualtions. This is a reflection of the hardwork and passion of you and your team.
BTW. I do enjoy the Found/Read articles on the weekend. It would be great to see more longer form content from the rest of the family on the weekend.
1:47 PM PT
Fantastic! Wishing you great success.
1:56 PM PT
you have to love how the URL for this post reads “we-have-completed-45-million-in-new-funding”.. $45M!!!! :)
Congratulations to all of you! cheers [el starno]
2:00 PM PT
Om - another milestone! Keep them coming… Will see you in London soon.
2:08 PM PT
Congrats Om, you deserve it.
3:05 PM PT
Congratulations, Om. And I repeat: It’s time for an international rollout. Read the review I wrote for Areamobile.de about the HTC Touch HD! Even Engadget noted that we got it first. In Germany you can find many interesting topics to cover and good journalists. Mark Zuckerberg does a roadshow for Facebook next week and VoIP and mobile are red hot in Berlin..
3:17 PM PT
Congratulations to all and long live the GigaOM Empire…
6:24 PM PT
Great news, Om. Of interest to me is how you’ll pick the media properties you pick in your next acquisition. I find that you’re executing something that Mike Arrington talked about several months back, this kind of roll up of content in the blogging realm. Of all the talkers, you’re the do-er (not saying that Mike said he was going to do it, but rather that you’re executing on his prediction).
So, congrats. I’m excited. I love the other publications you have, and look forward to seeing what comes next.
7:46 PM PT
Congratulations!
8:38 PM PT
Congrats OM and team. Keep up the good work!
8:38 PM PT
Om and Paul: It is a privilege to be part of the GigaOm adventure and I am looking forward to an exciting few years. You and your team have laid the foundations for a terrific business and I look forward to playing a part in it’s continued success.
10:10 PM PT
Om,
This is great news. Congratulations and good luck!
10:42 PM PT
Congrats Om and the GigaOm team! Great job.
Thanks for a string of great articles you have published all these years. Keep up the good work.
11:18 PM PT
Congrats OM. This is very good news indeed. Well done!
12:05 AM PT
Congrats to Chief Om & team
5:36 AM PT
Congratulations Om! Just the comments (again) prove that no online network balances between professional and family feel as well as this.
If you keep acquiring all these great blogs, we will feel obligated to read them all. The only problem being - there is already barely enough time in the day. Don’t know if you remember the film short circuit? We need Johny 5 to help with the input input input!
Best wishes. Looking forward to your continued success. It’s not just because we like GigaOm, we need GigaOm… 3.0 ;-)
6:46 AM PT
Just came back to quickly second Markus’s comment:
“It’s time for an international rollout”
With so much going on internationally, reading all the leading blogs leads us to believe nothing happens outside the valley, and makes it difficult to stumble across leading thinkers / investors in (for example) the U.K. and Europe.
Take care of your health in the mean time! Don’t forget:
(link)
(link)
8:13 AM PT
Congrats Om and everyone else at Giga Omni Media. Best of luck!
5:42 AM PT
congrrs!