Fusion Corporate Partners

BuzzMedia, the entertainment publisher, today announced the addition of six music sites. According to paidContent three are acquisitions – PureVolume, Concrete Loop and Gorilla vs. Bear. The other three are described as partnerships. They are PopMatters, , The Hype Machine, and RCRD LBL. Buzz Media say together they connect with over five million fans every month.

Location: USA, Hollywood, CA

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Lewis DVorkin, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, has announced that Forbes Media is acquiring True/Slant. Dvorkin describes True/Slant as an original content news network. He envisaged a new model that combined the values and editorial standards of traditional news with the immediacy and interactivity of the digital medium.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The company’s original investors were Forbes and Fuse Capital.

Writing about the deal Dvorkin says, “The small True/Slant team, with more than 100 years of Web, publishing and TV experience, will now be working side-by-side with talented and dedicated journalists at Forbes Media. The goal: to work together to further develop a mindset around the  power of the Web and traditional news values. With hard work, we can implement new blogging platforms and more efficient digital, print and video content creation models; we can find better ways for audiences to engage with news and information; and we can pursue new integrative approaches for marketers and advertisers.”

He also writes, “The True/Slant team is quite proud that it helped lead the way in producing high quality content in an efficient manner. Now, we are incredibly excited about moving our ideas and passion on to the bigger stage of Forbes.com and all of Forbes Media’s other properties.”

Location: USA, New York, NY

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Beyond Commerce has signed a Letter of Intent to acquire WebYES!. The Board of Directors of both companies has approved the acquisition and the transaction is anticipated to close within the next 30 business days.

WebYES! owns and operates a network of high-traffic web properties focused on finance, insurance, automotive products and services. The web properties contain advice for consumers and offer a variety of specialized products and services to suit their needs. 

In 2009 WebYES! had $19.5 million in revenues and $3.5 million of EBITDA. Currently, WebYES! is exceeding last year’s revenues in a year-to-date comparison. In the first quarter of 2010, WebYES! had over 2,000,000 unique visitors to web sites such as   www.zipinsurancerates.com, www.fastcashmatch.net,  www.debtmatch.net, www.findyourcustomers.com, and www.aplusautoprotection.com , and has generated over 400,000 targeted customers. 

“We are very excited about becoming an integral part of Beyond Commerce,” states Brett Cravatt, CEO and Founder of WebYES!.  “In order to further improve our lead quality and results for our advertisers, we will leverage the proprietary customer acquisition platform that Beyond Commerce has acquired through its recent purchase of AdJuice.”

Location: USA, Henderson, NV

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Babble Media, a magazine and parenting community site for new parents, has completed a Series B round of $3 million in equity funding. The round was led by Village Ventures with Greycroft Partners and iNovia Capital participating. Read more at citybizlist Boston abd at TechCrunch

Location: USA, New York, NY

Grockit, a social network for studying that uses collaborative learning and develops adaptive programs for students, announced today that it has completed a $7 million round of funding led by Atlas Venture. Existing investors Benchmark Capital and Integral Capital Partners also participated.

Location: USA, San Francisco, CA

The Hotlist, the first geo-social aggregator that shows people what’s going on today, tomorrow and throughout the week among their personal networks, today announced that the company closed $800,000 in angel financing led by Centurion Holdings. Funds from the angel round will be used to support The Hotlist’s platform development and formation of an expanded service suite. Read more in the release.

Location: USA, New York, NY

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Online advertising firm Cyberplex has acquired online media publisher, Tsavo Media, in a transaction valued at approximately $75 million.

Tsavo Media’s portfolio includes over 300 unique consumer websites, informational properties and social media blogs which generate over 30 million unique visitors per month. In 2009 Tsavo Media generated revenue of approximately $110 million and EBITDA of approximately $16.7 million, excluding management fees paid to its owners.

Ted Hastings, President and CEO of Tsavo Media, will take on the role of President in the combined organization and all other senior executives of Tsavo Media will remain with the organization.

“This is the largest and most impactful acquisition in the history of Cyberplex. We believe that it represents the next phase of growth in building a dominant Internet media company that will create significant value for our clients, shareholders and employees,” said Vernon Lobo, Chairman and co-founder of Cyberplex.

The total purchase price payable is $75,000,000, subject to post-closing adjustments. That is $37,800,000 in cash, US$2,200,000 in exchangeable shares and US$35,000,000 by way of vendor take-back notes. There is also an inducement for three of Tsavo’s existing key management personnel to enter into contracts of full time employment with Cyberplex. Full details are given in the release.

Location: Canada, Waterloo, Ontario

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Digital publishing business LibreDigital has closed an $8.1 million Series C funding round led by new investor S3 Ventures with participation from existing investors Adams Capital Management and Triangle Peak Partners. The company’s other key investors include HarperCollins Publishers, The New York Times Company and Noro-Moseley Partners.

“This year, sales of e-books are expected to double to more than $700 million in the U.S. alone,” said Russell P. Reeder, President and CEO of LibreDigital, Inc. “This funding will be used to accelerate the delivery of e-books, and expand our technology offerings to include new solutions that help publishers better promote and sell books to digital consumers.”

LibreDigital enables publishers, distributors and device manufacturers to securely market and deliver content across an expanding number of digital channels, including e-readers, tablets, smart phones, social networks and online stores. The company offers solutions designed to deliver digital books, newspapers and magazines in the highest quality format possible.

Location: USA, Austin, TX

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